Apple bought a chip factory

IT giant Apple has acquired a small chip factory for $ 18.2 million. According to information from the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the company is located in San Jose and can help the company test new chips to improve products.

Previously, the project was owned by Maxim Integrated Products. The total area of ​​the factory is just over 6,500 square meters. meters The factory has chip manufacturing equipment, and its building is located close to Samsung Semiconductor, one of the major manufacturers of Apple A9 processors, which are the heart of the iPhone. Apple is currently developing a core processor for the iPhone and iPad, as well as the Apple Watch, while Samsung and TSMC are producing the chips themselves.

This acquisition may indicate the company's desire to attract more resources to create chips, but this does not necessarily mean that the apple giant will start producing its own chips on its own.
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The fact is that the purchased factory is quite small. It follows from the description of the factory that it is suitable for “prototyping and production on a small scale”. For companies engaged in chip development, it is not new to acquire small factories for testing and improving new chips, while production is transferred to other larger enterprises.

In addition, the equipment of the factory, acquired by Apple, is not modern enough for the production of A9 processors, which are the most advanced technology today. The size of tiny transistors is 14 by 16 nanometers, and the Maxim factory equipment is suitable for the production of much less advanced transistors, the dimensions are 600 by 90 nanometers. So it is quite possible that Apple acquired a factory for testing other chips.