TSMC will start producing chips for Apple's next iOS devices in 2013, reports "DigiTimes" (www.digitmes.com), quoting unnamed "industry observers," Samsung Electronics has been the sole supplier of CPUs that power the existing iPhones and iPads.

Of course, with the ongoing patent war between the two companies, a severing of the relationship isn't too surprising. Demand from Apple is expected to be huge and "allocation of TSMC's available advanced process capacity among its major clients will be a critical decision to be made by the foundry," says "DigiTimes." TSMC will need at least more than 200,000 12-inch wafers ready to satisfy the huge demand from Apple, the article adds.