iPhone and iPad processors to be built in New York state

Apple could be moving some of its iPhone and iPad chip production to upstate New York. Albany's Times Union reports that GlobalFoundries, a company created when AMD spun off its manufacturing operations, will build the processors at its Fab 8 facility in the town of Malta. Samsung, which currently produces chips for Apple at a plant in Texas, is said to be assisting GlobalFoundries by bringing along the "recipes;" the Korean manufacturer will be able to make use of the plant's new $2 billion Technology Development Center.

Rumors have swirled for years that Apple would try to reduce its reliance on Samsung, with which it is locked in fierce competition and patent litigation, for component manufacturing. This June, Cupertino was said to have signed a deal that would see Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) produce mobile chips from 2014. Samsung makes the A7 processor in the new iPhone 5S, however, and the Times Union says there is "no indication" that the company will wind down its Apple business in Texas.

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