Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was built on TSMC’s 4nm process, but it’s possible that the company will use a dual-sourcing strategy for future high-end chipsets by collaborating with Samsung. According to rumours, both the cutting-edge N3E and 3nm GAA processes from TSMC and Samsung may be used to achieve this goal.
Revegnus reports that, with Samsung announcing the progress of its 3nm GAA technology during its most recent quarterly earnings, the company’s wafer output appears to be doing well.
Qualcomm and Samsung are collaborating to develop a line of high-end Snapdragon 8 chipsets.
If this plan is realised at the beginning of 2024, the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be delivered on TSMC’s N3E process, which is an improved iteration of the company’s 3nm architecture.
The second version, which will be manufactured on Samsung’s 3nm GAA process, will most likely be dubbed ‘Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 for Galaxy’ and will be reserved for the Galaxy S25 series. Qualcomm has previously been rumoured to switch to dual-sourcing as the most cost-effective option from a business standpoint.
Only Apple is reportedly mass producing chipsets on TSMC’s 3nm process this year, indicating that Qualcomm and MediaTek were discouraged from placing orders due to the high wafer price.
This does not mean that TSMC’s N3E process will be any cheaper, so switching to Samsung’s 3nm GAA node will be the best option. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Qualcomm has plans to use Samsung’s next-generation 3nm GAA technology this year. Instead, the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is said to be mass produced on TSMC’s N4P process, giving future Galaxy S24 models slightly better power efficiency.
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