Qualcomm is about to grant exclusive manufacturing rights to TSMC’s next-generation high-end SoC, which is not good for Samsung. So, in addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that will be launched later this year, the Taiwanese manufacturer can also make the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Gen 4.
- Samsung’s current foundries and chips face problems
- Qualcomm has pulled Samsung from manufacturing of its high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen series SoCs
- Samsung is reportedly working on a new high-end chip that will be ready by 2025
Samsung’s SoC business has been disrupted recently, at least as far as 4nm sculpting is concerned. The company couldn’t escape the chaos of Exynos, and now it’s taking another hit. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that TSMC will exclusively produce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with a 4nm engraving process. Manufacturing of the Snapdragon SoC Gen 3 and Gen 4 is expected to eventually be entrusted to TSMC.
So far, TSMC and Samsung share production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. However, Samsung’s inefficient and problematic production has affected the performance of smartphones equipped with the South Korean giant’s SoC. Presumably this is why Qualcomm gave up on Samsung.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, next year’s Samsung Galaxy S23 series will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 instead of the Exynos 2300. Qualcomm’s next-generation high-end SoC will be officially released by the end of 2022. Performance-wise, early details suggest it’s 15% better than the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
Samsung didn’t say the last word
Rumor has it that Samsung is working on a high-end SoC that could replace the current Exynos and compete with Apple’s A Bionic and M chips. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready until 2025, the launch of the Galaxy S25 series.
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