Apple has been increasing the potency of its proprietary processors in recent years. The company’s iPhones Xs 2018 models are carrying the custom-built A12 Bionic, the most powerful smartphone CPU Apple has ever made.
However, Cupertino wants to further beef up its SoC capabilities. To help, the company announced a $600 million deal with Dialog Semiconductor.
Dialog is a UK-based semiconductor systems company. While Apple has not acquired the company outright, it has licensed Dialog’s power management integrated circuits. Furthermore, Cupertino has purchased some assets in the company.
The deal also includes Apple buying Dialog products for the next three years. More than 300 Dialog employees will now move to Apple to help the company further its processor research. The company says it will take control of Dialog’s premises in Livorno, Italy; Swindon, U.K.; and Nabern and Neuaubing, Germany.
Johny Srouji, Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies, says Dialog will further Apple’s development of chips:
“Dialog has deep expertise in chip development, and we are thrilled to have this talented group of engineers who’ve long supported our products now working directly for Apple. Our relationship with Dialog goes all the way back to the early iPhones, and we look forward to continuing this long-standing relationship with them.”
The Future
While not entirely under Apple’s wing, Dialog is now very much part of the Cupertino family. The company will gain more investment and interest for creating systems in audio, power management, and charging technology.
Both parties say the deal is expected to close during the first half of 2019, pending regulatory green lights.
The deal does not necessarily mean Apple is going to go into full scale chip production. Instead, the company will likely continue to develop its own SoC based on Silicon provided by manufacturers. Either way, Apple will want to continue its hot streak in the mobile processor space. A-series chips found in iPhones are usually viewed as the industry standard in terms of benchmark performance.
