Samsung is said to be looking to grow its business from other companies in order to fill the void left by Apple.
The president of Samsung’s Systems LSI division Stephen Woo told Reuters that Samsung is attempting to “diversify our customer base,” confirming that the move is in response to Apple’s moves to wean itself off its reliance on Samsung for the processor chips used in the iPad and iPhone.
According to Goldman Sachs, Apple represents about 80% of Samsung’s business, around 9.3 trillion won ($8.8 billion or £5.5 billion) of work. This business could fall to 2.5 trillion won ($2.4b, £1.5b) next year.
While Samsung is almost entirely reliant on Apple, chip rivals such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia have a broader client base, notes Reuters.
Goldman Sachs notes, it’ll take time for Apple to actually move its efforts elsewhere, however.
Apple is said to be testing TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co) to see if it can successfully produce adequate supplies of the 4th generation iPad’s A6X processor.
“(We) should diversify our customer base and are making such efforts already, adding some Chinese customers,” Woo told Reuters.
As for Samsung, Woo revealed that the company has already added “some Chinese customers.”
Apple’s arch-enemy Samsung currently manufactures Apple’s iPad and iPhone processors at a factory in Austin, Texas.
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Apple asks TSMC to prove it can build iPad processor before Samsung is dumped
Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld almost two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.