Qualcomm could return to the dual-sourcing production strategy for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, using both TSMC and Samsung factories. The last Snapdragon chip produced by the South Korean giant was the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 launched in late 2021.
Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, confirmed in a recent press conference (June 4) that they welcome collaborating with Samsung again to produce Snapdragon chips. The company had moved to TSMC after the disappointing results obtained with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. At that time, Samsung Foundry results showed a low 35% yield rate. That is, only 35 out of every 100 chips produced were usable.
Even those “good enough” chips that reached the commercial market were problematic. Many users complained of poor thermal control and notable performance drops due to thermal throttling. These problems also used to be present in previous generation Exynos chips. That said, Samsung has made great strides in terms of efficiency in its factories. Currently, the Exynos 2400 chipset in the Galaxy S24 series shows satisfactory performance.
The Exynos 2400 shows how much Samsung Foundry has improved
Perhaps the improvements in Samsung Foundry wafers made Qualcomm reconsider a collaboration. Be that as it may, the CEO of Qualcomm left the door open to working together on future flagship chipsets. However, if it happens, the chipset manufactured by both Samsung and TSMC would be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 of 2025. TSMC is expected to take full charge of the production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
Qualcomm was already testing the waters to work with Samsung again. The company is said to have commissioned the manufacturing of a prototype 2nm Snapdragon chipset earlier this year in its factories. The collaboration between both companies would also help Qualcomm launch a faster 2nm chipset. According to reports, Apple has been meeting with TSMC executives to secure the first batch of 2nm chips. So, turning to Samsung could be a good solution to avoid being a generation behind in terms of chip manufacturing process.
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