Taipei, Dec. 5, 2012 (CENS)--LG Electronics, South Korea's No.1 homegrown supplier of consumer electronics and household appliances, has reportedly placed contracts with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) for manufacturing of its application specialty ICs (ASICs) developed for its smart TVs.
Industry executives pointed out that in order to introduce its ASICs into TSMC's Open Innovation Platform Ecosystem Forum, a foundry service solution integrating TSMC's manufacturing capability with its design-service subsidiaries' capability, LG began working with Global Unichip Corp. (GUC) on designs of the ASICs earlier in 2012.
They've worked together on chips for smart TVs and smartphones. Industry executives estimated LG would farm out production of its smartphone ASICs to TSMC in 2013 after placing it with the TV chip contracts.
They estimated TSMC and GUC to become the prime beneficiaries of LG's outsourcing project.
LG's in-house development of ASICs for its appliances signals the trend of international system-product vendors developing dedicated chips for their system products. LG does not have in-house IC manufacturing capability.
Apple, Samsung, Huawei, and Sony are among the system-product suppliers developing the chips for their respective products.