Samsung turns to LG partner to test upcoming Galaxy S26 Exynos chips

The Galaxy S26 series is just a few months away, and we already know that Samsung will use its Exynos 2600 in the vanilla Galaxy S26 and the S26 Plus models. Reports from etnews now indicate that the company is bringing an LG affiliate into the Samsung Galaxy S26 chip testing process to support this major rollout. Samsung has officially expanded its Exynos processor testing contract to include LB Semicon, and this addition brings the total number of vendors engaged in testing the new in-house chipset to three.

LB Semicon will now test the Galaxy S26 series processor even though the company has previously tested only mid-range Exynos APs. Following the contract, the company has started to pack its Anseong plant with equipment and is preparing for operation. Samsung has also retained Doosan Tesna and Nepes for Exynos 2600 testing alongside the new partner. The three vendors will examine the wafer’s electrical properties after the completion of the circuit pattern to determine if individual chips are defective.

Samsung’s System LSI designs Exynos chips, and its Foundry business is responsible for mass production, while the Korean tech giant outsources the wafer testing to different vendors for post-production stages like testing. The expanded testing lineup aligns with industry data suggesting the Exynos 2600 is said to grab a 25% share in the overall chip supply. Samsung will rely heavily on Snapdragon, which will take the remaining 75%.

LB Semicon has handled high-stakes testing before, as they managed chip wafer testing when Google used Samsung-made Tensor units. Since Pixel’s processors are now being handled by TSMC the Taiwanese firm controls post-production testing for those chips, which allows LB Semicon to dedicate its capacity to the upcoming Samsung silicon.