Why does Apple do business with Samsung?

By SemiWiki

May 27, 2015

The Apple and Samsung relationship is an interesting one. On one hand they have co-developed some of the most innovative products on the market today (iPod, iPhone, iPad, iWatch) yet they are fierce competitors in the mobile market. Some call this type of business relationship “frenemies” others refer to the old Italian proverb “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Personally I refer to it as "foundry business as usual." Let’s take another look at the Apple/Samsung relationship and see if we can get a better picture of what is really going on here. This of course is based on my experience, observations, and opinions so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I'm not.

Apple became a chip company in the early 1990s with the assistance of VLSI Technology. This was using the ASIC business model where Apple could “toss” an RTL level design over to VLSI and have them deliver finished chips. The first chip was for Apple’s PDA, the Newton, which lost out to the much easier to use BlackBerry and Palm Pilot.

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