SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc is famous for relying on low-cost Asian manufacturers to both source and assemble its popular gadgets, but the consumer device giant recently started receiving a critical component in its iPad and iPhones from closer to home - Texas.
The A5 processor - the brain in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 - is now made in a sprawling 1.6 million square feet factory in Austin owned by Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics, according to people familiar with the operation.
One of the few major components to be sourced from within the United States, the A5 processor is built by Samsung in a newly constructed $3.6 billion non-memory chip production line that reached full production in early December.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/16/us-apple-samsung-idUSTRE7BF0D420111216
The A5 chip inside Apples iPad 2 and iPhone 4S is now being produced stateside (In Texas), according to Reuters. Sources familiar with Apples production details told the news organization that Samsung Electronics is now handling production of the A5 in Austin, Texas. Among manufactured products, the states leading export category is chemical manufactures, which accounted for $38.4 billion (20 percent) of Texas total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top 2008 manufactured exports were computers and electronic products ($35.2 billion), machinery manufactures ($27.3 billion), and petroleum and coal products ($25.3 billion).
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