Rumor: Apple is behind a big last-minute order placed with TSMC

According to DigiTimes, TSMC will have a beautiful third quarter (higher than initial estimates) thanks to a last-minute order that may have been placed by companies like Qualcomm, Broadcom, MediaTek and MStar. But according to the analyst at Bloomberg, Richard Davenport, responsible for Broadcom's request for the link between Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor.

According to Davenport, all chip makers, with the exception of Broadcom, lowered their estimates due to the economic crisis. Right now, Apple is the only company that could have requested such an order, probably for the manufacture of iPhones and iPads. Davenport is not alone, as Anil Doradla, an analyst at William Blair & Co., thinks that this last-minute order would be related to a new contract between Apple and Broadcom, which is responsible for supplying parts such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, both for iPad and iPhone, from the first iGadget.

Broadcom chip

But there is a catch: unlike what many may think, such orders would not be for the iPhone 5. According to Davenports, orders like this, made at the last minute, are not only for new products, which are usually surrounded by planning. This is more likely to be a request to increase the production capacity of a product that is already on the market.

Following this line of reasoning, it is possible that Samsung is still the company responsible for the manufacture of the A5, a chip present in the iPad 2 and that it should equip the iPhone 5. This would leave TSMC with the manufacture of the A4, a chip present in the iPhone 4. The that makes us think: is that last-minute request strict to the iPhone 4? Recalling that it will probably continue to be sold by Apple.

With the growing friction between Apple and Samsung, TSMC is quoted for the manufacture of the A6, a chip that is expected to equip the iPad 3 and possibly the iPhone 6.

(via 9to5Mac)