In the not-too-distant future, Qualcomm is going to stop completely relying on Samsung for the production of its most advanced 5G chipsets. After switching to TSMC’s fabs for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it is speculated that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might all be made by the same firm. Qualcomm shifted to TSMC’s fabs for the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
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My latest survey indicates TSMC will be the sole supplier of Qualcomm flagship 5G chips in 2023 & 2024. It's a super win-win for these two companies.我最新調查顯示，台積電將是Qualcomm在2023與2024年的5G旗艦晶片獨家供應商，這對兩家公司來說，是一個超級雙贏局面
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) July 13, 2022
Traditionally, Qualcomm has delegated the production of its chipsets to either Samsung or TSMC under a contract manufacturing arrangement. Despite this, it would seem that the American corporation will be switching to TSMC for the foreseeable future, at least in regard to its most important chipsets.
TSMC is going to be responsible for the production of Qualcomm’s future flagship 5G chipsets, as Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted. According to all of the sources that are currently accessible, the Taiwanese manufacturer will be responsible for the production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which will be released later on in this year. It is anticipated that TSMC would continue to manufacture Snapdragon devices until 2023 and 2024, which means that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will also be produced by the company.
This does raise issues regarding Samsung’s nodes, since the Exynos 2300 remains in doubt. Kuo recently said that the Galaxy S23 series will employ the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 completely, which would leave very little need for Samsung’s 4nm technology, at least. After switching to TSMC with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Samsung’s 4nm node is used by just the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip. Qualcomm made the move to TSMC with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
If we are to trust all that has been said, Samsung will be at a significant disadvantage till the year 2025. TSMC already controls sixty percent of the market for the production of chips for smartphones, and it is likely that this percentage will increase in the near future. This is especially likely to occur because MediaTek’s mid-range and sub-premium SoCs are becoming more popular than they have ever been.
