Apple seems to be putting the pieces together to begin building its own chips for the iPhone and iPod.  With its new IBM hire, and the acquisition of PA Semi, it’s become quite clear what Apple has its eye on.

Forbes is reporting that Apple likely will be taking a hand in designing the ARM-based processors it now buys from rival handset maker Samsung, using an in-house team of chip designers led by Papermaster.

“I would look for PA Semi to play a role, and for Papermaster to be a leader of that,” says Roger Kay, president of tech tracker Endpoint Technologies Associates.  Steve Jobs also intimated to the New York Times that one of the main goals in the PA Semi takeover was to begin creating silicon in-house.

While this theory is the most likely, Apple could be going in a totally different direction.  Papermaster and the engineers Apple brought on from PA Semi could be used to bolster Apple’s minuscule server business.  They could even redesign the silicon surrounding the central processing unit in Apple’s notebook computers. It’s even possible the team could quietly explore the idea of shifting the Macintosh away from Intel’s processors.  You never really know what Apple has up its sleeves.

With the success of the iPhone and iPod, it would make sense that Apple would want to take more control of the hardware end of things and bolster their revenue opportunities.  With the iPhone making such huge waves in the mobile arena, other device makers could one day want the same technology.  If Apple could then be a leading chip provider for new-age mobile devices, they’ve in effect created a whole new revenue stream based solely on the iPhone.  Besides, with the problems Apple faced in regards to the chips it chose for the iPhone 3G, the company will make sure something like that never happens again.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm under News, Rumor.  Print This Post

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