Due to a Big Foundry Order Placed with Samsung
Qualcomm was included among Samsung Electronics’ top five corporate customers in the first quarter of 2022. Qualcomm's inclusion was due to a big foundry order that it placed with Samsung.
The top five corporate customers were Apple, Best Buy, Deutsche Telecom, Qualcomm, and Supreme Electronics, and these big clients accounted for about 14 percent of the company’s total sales, according to a business report released by Samsung Electronics on May 16.
This marked the first time that Qualcomm has been included in the club of the top five customers. Verizon, which had been among the top five corporate customers, was excluded in the first quarter.
Qualcomm chose Samsung's 4-nano fabrication process for the production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a mobile application processor released in early 2022. However, Qualcomm partnered with TSMC for the production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus.
Market watchers say that Samsung Electronics’ 4-nm plant suffered a delay in securing a desired yield, leading its corporate customers to leave for other companies. But Samsung said in an earnings conference call on April 28 that market concern about its 4-nm process yield is excessive, saying that its 4-nm technology has been on an expected yield improvement curve.