Samsung in shambles: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to be built by TSMC
Qualcomm is now poised to pick TSMC as the sole manufacturer of its upcoming flagship chipsets leaving Samsung in limbo. In addition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that will be introduced later this year, the Taiwanese foundry could also build Qualcomm's third and fourth gen Snapdragon 8 chips, says leaker.
TL;DR
- Samsung has been facing issues with its current foundry and chipsets.
- Qualcomm dropped Samsung from manufacturing its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen processors.
- Samsung is working on a new premium chip that will be ready in 2025.
Samsung's silicon business has been in disarray recently, at least, on its 4nm node process. The company couldn't catch a break from the Exynos mess, and now, another major blow has arrived. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, TSMC will exclusively manufacture the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 through its 4nm node. It is also expected that fabrication of both Snapdragon Gen 3 and Gen 4 chips will be eventually awarded to TSMC.
To refresh, both TSMC and Samsung have produced the current SD 8 Gen 1. However, Samsung's output has been less efficient and problematic, which in turn affects the performance of devices powered by the chip. Presumably, this is the reason why Qualcomm has dropped Samsung's foundry.
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The same leaker alleged that next year's Samsung Galaxy S23 series will be using Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 instead of an Exynos 2300. Qualcomm's upcoming premium chip will be official at the end of 2022. In terms of performance, early details hint that it is 15 percent more efficient than the new SD 8 Gen 1 Plus.
Samsung is not completely out of the chip making business yet
There are now rumors of Samsung working on a premium chipset that may replace its current Exynos lineup and will rival Apple's Bionic and M processors. Unfortunately, it will not be ready until 2025, which is in time for Galaxy S25 series.
Do you agree that Snapdragon chips perform better than Samsung's Exynos? Let us know your answers below.
Via: GizmoChina Source: Twitter
Looks like they're running up against the fab's resolution limits. This is the nature of chip fab. But it's not like they won't still churn out older chip designs. These have a long life of use in embedded systems. Think cars, touch pads, common cheap consumer electronics. The 386 chip (1985 launch) was made for many years after it dropped out of common use in the PC market. It was discontinued in 2007.
Samsung announced a new fab construction late last year so they seem to have known this was coming.
Ohhhhh, the 386. Now I want to play "Zork". Bet no one remembers that!