TSMC, one of the world's largest manufacturers of mobile chipsets, might lose its two most important customers next year. Taiwanese media reports from earlier today state that Qualcomm and Apple are both considering a switch to Samsung as their manufacturing partner.

The two companies are growing impatient with TSMC's slow switch to 14nm manufacturing process, which allows for far better power efficiency of the mobile chipsets. Right now the best TSMC can offer is 20nm and that's not good enough in the more-competitive-than-ever mobile market.

Back in the day when Apple left Samsung for TSMC, everyone made a big deal out of it and said it was down to the fierce legal battle between the two giants. However, that war is far from over, and Apple's willingness to return to its Korean rival suggests it might have been a mere coincidence and TSMC simply offered better terms at the time.

Other major TSMC customers AMD and Nvidia are showing no signs of wanting to follow their mobile colleagues on the way out, so the manufacturer should still have no trouble surviving. However, should these reports turn correct, its explosive growth streak over the past few years is certainly coming to an abrupt end.

As expected, the market hasn't reacted kindly to the reports and TSMC shares were down nearly 7% yesterday.

Source | Via