Samsung Back Trusted Qualcomm Production Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Competing With TSMC

Qualcomm will reportedly provide another chance to hand over its top-class chipset to Samsung. (photo: snapdragon)

JAKARTA - When Samsung had failed due to chips it carried such as Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon Gen 1 experiencing performance slowdown problems and excess heat, Qualcomm still gave the South Korean producer another chance.

Earlier because of the incident, Qualcomm handed over the full production of Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Of course this makes Samsung's casting business a loss, but now Qualcomm is reportedly going to give Samsung and TSMC another chance to hand over its top-class chipsets to its company.

Citing the BNext report, Samsung will manufacture a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip equipped with a 3nm GAA (GAAFET) node through its Samsung Foundry. However, most of the chips will still be produced by TSMC using the 3nm FinFET process.

This is because TSMC results are around 75 to 80 percent higher per wafer, compared to Samsung which is only 60 to 70 percent per wafer.

In fact, before partnering with US-based semiconductor company Silicon Frontline Technology, Samsung only made 20 percent per wafer.

Since Samsung Foundry implemented GAA aka Gate All Around technology for the first time on chip fabrication, production has reportedly not been that efficient.

However, chips using GAA technology are said to have better power and thermal efficiency than those using FinFET designs. It remains to be seen how well Samsung can compete with TSMC in 3nm races.

Given the additional costs and complexity that comes with mixing wafers on this manufacturing process, Qualcomm may have to pay more per wafer, meaning it will start charging more money to its smartphone partners.

In this case, the estimated price of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is slightly more expensive than that of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which can increase the price of Android flagships in 2024. This is quoted from various sources, Tuesday, January 3.