Apple Supplier Dialog Falls on Report of In-House Chip Move
- Chipmaker falls most in almost eight months on Nikkei article
- Other suppliers vulnerable as Apple expands into areas like AI
A person tries out the Animoji feature of an Apple iPhone X
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergApple Inc. is designing its own power-management chips for use in iPhones from as early as 2018, reducing its dependence on Dialog Semiconductor Plc, Japan’s Nikkei reported, without identifying its sources. The report sent Dialog plunging the most in almost eight months.
Such chips handle charging and power-management functions in smartphones, and U.K.-based Dialog relies on Apple for about three-quarters of its revenue. The Nikkei said that “based on Apple’s current plan,” it would replace potentially as much as half of the power management chips that go into the iPhones starting next year with its own design. These chips are one of the most crucial and costly components after core processors, modems and memory chips.