An analyst at Bankhaus Lampe claims that there is “strong evidence” Apple could cut ties with Dialog Semiconductor and begin producing its own power management integrated circuits, Reuters reports. Another source said Apple is “poaching like crazy” from Dialog, hiring top engineers from the company and ramping up to begin its own in-house efforts. Neither Apple nor Dialog commented on the report, but Dialog’s stock lost as much as 36 percent in one day on the news.
If true, the move away from Dialog would be the latest in Apple’s growing drive toward independence in creating its internal components. After reports that Apple was attempting to purchase Imagination Technologies — which previously produced its graphics processors — Apple abruptly cut its ties with the company in favor of producing its own GPUs. Apple is also said to be interested in acquiring Toshiba’s flash memory division. While the push to bring more production in-house seems to be ramping up, Apple has been slowly bringing control of its components under the company umbrella since 2008, when it acquired chipmaker PA Semi to produce its own CPUs.