Samsung lost a significant portion of its revenue to TSMC due to its substandard management and yields. Still, the company looks like it could recover. Qualcomm appears to be eyeing Samsung Foundry for all of its production needs, with the Galaxy-branded smartphone maker expected to acquire TSMC’s 2nm chip business. Recent sources have said that Apple is afraid to use 3nm chips for this year’s iPhone 17 Pro due to high costs and limited production capacity. It is clear that this issue is pervasive and has affected Qualcomm’s operational strategy.
Mobile phone prices could rise as TSMC may raise prices of its cutting-edge chips by 5-10% this year. Customers are already preparing to move to Samsung for 2nm business due to rising costs, but it’s unclear how the South Korean giant will respond to lower yields (via TrendForce). Qualcomm may want to make its next-generation 2nm chips cheaper, which could help Samsung regain market share.
Additionally, Qualcomm may have moved to the Samsung Foundry as TSMC’s largest customer, Apple, has booked manufacturing of 2nm chips at its facility. We recently discussed that the Cupertino company would have to wait to take advantage of TSMC’s products, but this would give Apple an advantage over other companies in the industry. To address this, the iPhone 17 Pro models use the supplier’s new N3P process while adhering to the 3nm node.
TSMC intends to significantly expand production capacity in 2026, but Qualcomm will withdraw. As of 2024, the provider holds a 64.9% market share in global semiconductor foundries. Numbers are expected to remain below the norm unless technical challenges related to increased costs and limited manufacturing capacity are resolved. During pilot production in 2026, the supplier plans to expand 2nm production capacity from 10,000 to 80,000 wafers per month.
For improved performance and battery efficiency, Apple is likely to adopt TSMC’s 2nm chip built on N3P technology for its 2026 iPhone 18 Pro models. Meanwhile, Qualcomm will continue to work with Samsung to produce chips for the Snapdragon 8 Elite series. Details are limited, but we believe Korean suppliers will significantly increase yields and costs. Additionally, this will allow Qualcomm to have a different 2nm chip supplier than TSMC, promoting healthy competition and keeping costs down.
