Samsung lost most of its business to TSMC due to poor management and poor yields, but it seems possible that it will recover. Qualcomm is reportedly eyeing Samsung Foundry for all of its production needs, and the Galaxy-branded smartphone maker is now expected to acquire TSMC’s 2nm chip business. It was recently reported that due to high production costs and low production capacity, Apple decided to use a 3nm chip for this year’s iPhone 17 Pro. We can see that this issue is widespread and has affected Qualcomm’s operational plans.
Qualcomm plans to move its 2nm chip business away from TSMC to Samsung due to high costs and limited production capacity.
TSMC could raise the price of its advanced chips by 5% to 10% this year, which could also increase the price of its devices. Due to rising costs, customers are now planning to switch their 2nm business to Samsung, but it remains to be seen how the Korean giant will deal with low yields (via TrendForce). Qualcomm may want to make future 2nm chips cheaper, which would also help Samsung maintain its lost market position.
Qualcomm could also move to the Samsung foundry, as TSMC’s biggest customer, Apple, has reserved production of 2nm chips at its facility. This gives Apple an advantage compared to other companies in the industry, but we recently covered how the Cupertino giant will have to wait to use TSMC’s products. To address this, the iPhone 17 Pro models use the supplier’s 3nm node, but utilize the new N3P process.
While Qualcomm is withdrawing, TSMC plans to significantly increase its production capacity in 2026. The company has a 64.9% market share in global semiconductor foundries in 2024, and unless it decides to revise that figure it will likely fall below the standard. A problem. The supplier plans to increase its 2nm production capacity from 10,000 to 80,000 wafers per month during pilot production in 2026.
Apple is likely to use TSMC’s 2nm chip based on the N3P process for its 2026 iPhone 18 Pro models to improve performance and power efficiency. In contrast, Qualcomm plans to cooperate with Samsung in the production of the Snapdragon 8 Elite series of chips in the future, and although exact details are lacking, it is likely that the Korean supplier will significantly improve yields and costs. I’m thinking. This will also allow Qualcomm to have a specialized 2nm chip supplier other than TSMC, creating healthy competition and keeping costs down.
According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo, this may be Samsung’s last chance to win customers for its 2nm business if it wants to continue operating. Currently, Samsung is suffering billions of dollars in losses and is far behind TSMC. We’ll be sharing more details on this topic in the future, so stay tuned to learn more about Qualcomm shifting focus from TSMC to Samsung Foundry for 2nm chips.
