Samsung has made significant progress in the chip department, thanks to its 2nm Exynos 2600 . It made a statement that it can leverage its cutting-edge technology and maintain healthy yields to close in on rivals like TSMC. These advancements helped the brand secure a deal with Tesla. But when it comes to contract manufacturing for brands like Qualcomm, a new development suggests that talks are yet to materialize. The upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro will reportedly leverage TSMC’s 2nm N2P process exclusively.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 TSMC 2nm
Tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo says that Qualcomm’s upcoming chips, presumably the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and 8 Elite Gen 6, will reportedly have unique identifiers: SM8975 and SM8750. He says that Qualcomm is sticking with TSMC as its foundry partner. They’ll both be fabricated on TSMC’s 2nm N2P node.
Having said that, Qualcomm was previously reported to have completed design work on Samsung’s version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, hinting that if things fall in place, the future chips could be mass-produced on Samsung’s 2nm GAA node.
Adreno 850 GPU and LPDDR6 RAM
Samsung had reportedly sent Qualcomm samples of its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 flagship SoC for evaluation. However, we’ll only know later if that meets the company’s tight expectations. For what it’s worth, it’s ideal if Qualcomm enters talks with Samsung. This is considering a dual-sourcing strategy will help its prospects. This is considering Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro could be very expensive and reserved for ‘Ultra’ flagships . This could help reduce its manufacturing costs and help maintain better margins.
Furthermore, Digital Chat Station claims that the upcoming Snapdragon chips will feature a 2 + 3 + 3 CPU cluster. This is different from the ‘2 + 6’ cluster of the Snapdragon 8 Elite and 8 Elite Gen 5. The chips will get an Adreno 850 GPU, with the Pro model supporting new generation LPDDR6 RAM tech.
