Following Qualcomm
Qualcomm and AMD are knocking on the door of Samsung Electronics for production of their chips. Their strategy is to diversify supply lines to lower their dependence on TSMC.
Taiwan’s DigiTimes reported on Dec. 9 that Qualcomm and AMD are currently dissatisfied with TSMC's special treatment of Apple and may outsource the production of their chips to Samsung Electronics next year.
TSMC offers favors to Apple, such as giving priority to Apple and offering lower prices. TSMC notified a 20 percent price increase for high-tech processes to clients, but the increase was less than 5 percent for Apple.
Qualcomm recently officially confirmed that it will produce first-generation Snapdragon 8 chips using Samsung Electronics’ 4-nm process. Qualcomm is using a multi-foundry strategy, dividing its orders between Samsung Electronics and TSMC depending on the product type. Qualcomm is further considering allocating orders to Intel.
Analysts say that Samsung's plan to introduce a 3-nm process in the first half of next year could change the industry picture. TSMC plans to allocate both 3-nm and 2-nm processes to Apple first. It is difficult for other fabless companies to produce their chips on TSMC's state-of-the-art processes. In this situation, if Samsung succeeds in securing a desired yield on its 3-nm GAA process, major fabless companies are likely to consider giving orders to Samsung Electronics first.