Samsung’s foundry side and Qualcomm are talking 2nm again. Chosun Daily and later reports put the talks ahead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit on September 22. Specs, pricing, and process tuning are on the list.
Split order with TSMC
One path under discussion is dual sourcing. Some volume on Samsung. Some on TSMC. The size of any Samsung share is not settled. Yield and price will decide how far a custom Snapdragon design can land on SF2.
Yield gap still there
Samsung’s 2nm yield sat in the 20% range in the second half of last year. Industry estimates now put it around 50% to 60%. TrendForce’s April read had Samsung near 55% and TSMC at 60% to 70%.
Qualcomm is said to want about 70% before a high-volume run. That bar is still above Samsung’s current band. TSMC also targets higher yields on its enhanced N2P node by year-end.
Apple already holds early TSMC 2nm
Capacity is the other pressure. TSMC aims for about 60,000 2nm wafers a month by the fourth quarter. Apple has already locked more than half of the early allocation for iPhone 18 and M6 work.
Nvidia and AMD 3nm slots are also described as sold out deep into 2027. That leaves Qualcomm short of easy TSMC room on the timeline it wants. Samsung stays in the conversation for that reason, not only for yield pride.
Snapdragon Summit on September 22
The Hawaii event is where the next flagship AP story usually tightens. Reports point at Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a higher Pro or Extreme Gen 6 tier. Foundry names for those chips may get clearer after the stage, not before.
The two firms last ran together on Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in 2021. After heat and efficiency complaints, Qualcomm moved later flagships to TSMC. A return would be the first serious contact in five years. No contract size is public yet.
Photo: Apple
Source: Chosun Daily / Gate News / BigGo / TrendForce
