Samsung Foundry close to acquiring Qualcomm as a customer for its cutting-edge node

Qualcomm's relation with Samsung Foundry has been tumultuous ever since the Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Since then, Samsung Foundry has been relegated to making entry-level and mid-range chips. A report from South Korean news outlet FNNews says that could change soon.

It says a contract with Qualcomm is "imminent" after Samsung Foundry sent recent samples to the American chipmaker. While not explicitly specified, it will be manufactured on one of Samsung's 3 nm class nodes, likely SF3P or even SF2. Given this is a cutting-edge node, it is unlikely to be used it a mid-range product.

This sits in line with an earlier rumour which said the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy (formerly known as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 for Galaxy) would be manufactured on Samsung's 2 nm node. Its regular version (Snapdragon 8 Elite 2) is said to use TSMC's N3P node.

If things go according to plan, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for Galaxy should power the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 series next year. This time, the chip might actually be ready before the phones hit shelves because a report from another outlet says Samsung Foundry's 2 nm yield is around 40% (up from 20%). While this isn't nearly enough for mass production, it gives Samsung a lot of time to get it over the 60% mark required for mass production.

That said, dual-sourcing chips from TSMC and Samsung Foundry might cause some friction among end users and potentially result in a Chipgate-like situation. On paper, Samsung's node has an advantage over TSMC N3P because it uses a GAA (gate all around) design instead of TSMC's FinFET, but this alone might not be enough to give it an edge over TSMC.