Qualcomm does not rule out the possibility of fabbing its own ICs if the current shortages of 28nm product persist,according to the Taiwan Economic News.
The newspaper reports that Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said that the restricted supply was'triggered by the complicated technology involved.'
Qualcomm was using TSMC as its only fab,it has now signed fab agreements with UMC and Samsung as well.
UMC is reported to plan first production of 28nm Snapdragon S4 processors and 3G/4G basebands from Q4 this year.
The volume of contracted wafers from UMC is reported to be 3-5K wpm–about 20-30%of the contracted volumes from TSMC.
Snapdragon S4s are for ARM-based computers running Windows 8 due out in H2.
Source:
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2012/07/02/54026/qualcomm-ponders-fab.htm
