Samsung to form smartphone image sensor line in Austin for Apple
3-layer stacked CMOS image sensor to power iPhone 18 in 2026
The plan ... seems to be a response to tariffs on South Korea-made semiconductors that the Trump Administration plans to impose.
If all goes to plan, it will mark the first time that Samsung is manufacturing CIS in the US.
The CIS is made with wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding ... requires precise process control and only Sony and Samsung have commercialized it.
I am sorry what has this to do with tariffs? Apple has historically sourced from Sony only which manufacture 100% in Japan. It was also one of the few cases of single supplier. The news should be that Sony is no longer the single supplier for Apple.
ReplyDeleteApple has sourced GS sensors for their FaceID for years. So Sony hasn't been the sole source anyway. That Apple works with Samsung has also spread for a while. Trump has pushed Apple to pull their supply chain into the US for a while now, but mostly Apple seemed to have done final assembly and not chip manufacturing in the US. So to me the fact that Samsung now produces state-of-the-art mobile grade sensors in the US is big news and thus this post is spot-on.
DeleteThis is not an accurate statement: "The CIS is made with wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding ... requires precise process control and only Sony and Samsung have commercialized it."
ReplyDeleteSeveral other companies have commercialized wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding, not just Samsung and Sony.
ReplyDeleteSony was never the sole supplier. There is a STMicro sensor for FaceID.
ReplyDeleteWell, Samsung was kind of forced to invest heavily invested in the Texas fab to avoid Trump Tariffs.
ReplyDeleteAnd btw, Sony is also sourcing CIS from TSMC fab in Taiwan.
Finally iPhone image sensors will be US made, after many billions of sensors sold. It took politics to enable or force the economics.
ReplyDelete