Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly landed CPU orders for Apple's upcoming next-generation iPad expected to be released in early 2015, according to sources familiar with the matter.

TSMC is currently fabricating Apple's A8 processors for the iPhone 6 devices, which hit the market recently and total shipments are expected to reach 70-80 million by the end of 2014.

TSMC will continue to make the new CPUs for the new iPad on a 20nm process as it did currently for the A8 processors, said the sources, adding that the new CPU is tentatively codenamed A8X.

The SoC of the A8X will be larger than that of A8's, which could post a challenge to TSMC in terms of yield rates, the sources commented.

The 20nm products accounted for 10% of TSMC's total revenues in the third quarter of 2014, and the ratio is likely to climb over 20% in the fourth quarter. Buoyed by orders from Apple, the ratio of 20nm process products to TSMC's overall revenues is expected to surpass 30% in 2015, estimated the sources.

Meanwhile, TSMC is also producing a number of peripheral chips for the iPhone 6 devices, including Dialog's power management (PWM) ICs, Qualcomm's 4G baseband chips, Synaptics' LCD driver ICs, InvenSense's 6-axis gyroscopes, and AhthenTec's fingerprint sensors.

TSMC saw its revenues grow 14.2% sequentially to a new high of NT$209 billion (US$6.87 billion) in the third quarter of 2014.