To Power Upcoming Galaxy S23 Series
Samsung Electronics’ Foundry Business Unit will produce some of Qualcomm’s flagship application processor (AP) Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for its own phones, foreign media outlets reported on Nov. 28.
PhoneArena, a U.S. website specializing in IT news, reported that while TSMC will be producing the regular version of Qualcomm's latest chipset, Samsung Foundry will be manufacturing the overclocked version of the chipset for the upcoming Galaxy S23 series.
The website quoted Twitter tipster RGcloudS as saying that there are two versions of the chipset, with Version AB to be made by Samsung using its 4-nm LPE process and the AC variant to be produced by TSMC using its N4P process node.
For the Galaxy S22 series, Samsung used its own Exynos 2200 chips everywhere except the United States, Canada and China. For phones sold in these three countries, it used Qualocomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which was designed by Samsung’s System LSI division.
But for the Galaxy S23 series, Samsung is expected to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 globally. In return, Qualcomm will partner with Samsung for the production of the chipset to be used for the Galaxy phones.
Industry insiders are paying attention to Qualcomm’s return to Samsung Electronics for foundry services. Previously, some media outlets reported that Qualcomm partnered with TSMC to produce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 made through Samsung Electronics’ Foundry Unit’s 4-nm process did not meet Qualcomm’s expectations.
Industry insiders say Qualcomm’s order will offer Samsung Electronics an opportunity to attract corporate customers that had left Samsung Electronics, such as Nvidia and IBM.
Samsung Electronics is also showing strong confidence in improving the yields of its 5-nm or advanced processes. In addition, as the Korean chipmaker succeeded in mass-producing 3-nm chips ahead of TSMC, it has gained an advantageous position in securing customers in next-generation foundry processes.