Apple’s latest Macs could start a new chip war

It is expected to announce a new line of Mac computers on Tuesday morning at its latest “event”, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) could very well start a new war on the transformers by doing so.

This is the view of many experts, who see the company’s announcement that it would power devices with a proprietary chip as a possibility of opening up in such a conflict. The company was using x86 chips from the processor giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) since 2006; in June, it announced it would transition the full Mac lineup to its silicon chip in a two-year process.

In the heyday of the PC, Intel was a dominant player, in an almost constant battle with the eternal finalist, Advanced micro-systems. However, new competitors have entered the field in the smartphone age.

A big potential rival of Apple and Intel in this business is the maker of components for mobile devices. Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). As with the plans announced by Apple, Qualcomm is making chips based on the ARM architecture of the eponymous British company which is expected to be acquired by NVIDIA. Processors co-developed by Qualcomm with AMD and Microsoft specifically to power the latter’s Surface line of laptop / tablet products.

Apple had agreed to contract with a third-party manufacturer to produce the silicon chips. Speculation is widespread that it will be Taiwan Semiconductor, although neither Apple nor the Asian-based chipmaker has confirmed this yet.

While Intel doesn’t have the prominence it once enjoyed in the processor world, its chips still power a lot of PCs around the world, and it is likely to remain a major player in the segment.