55%
Plausible
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600 are being prepared for a launch from Qualcomm and MediaTek, respectively, with both chipset manufacturers leveraging TSMC’s advanced 2nm process for the first time. However, the Taiwanese semiconductor has two versions of its next-generation lithography, the N2 and its successor, N2P. Where Apple has been reported to unveil the A20 and A20 Pro on the first iteration, a report says that Qualcomm and MediaTek will surpass their rival and unveil their chipsets on the N2P node.
TSMC’s 2nm process to be a scarce resource, claim analysts, with monthly capacity reaching between 15,000 and 20,000 monthly wafers
Qualcomm has been rumored on two previous occasions to move to the 2nm N2P process for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, with the latest rumor claiming that the SoC will have support for LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 support. However, Commercial Times reports that MediaTek has joined the semiconductor bandwagon, opting to release the Dimensity 9600 on the same lithography. The Taiwanese firm had previously announced that it had successfully completed the tape-out of its first 2nm chipset, with a launch happening in late 2026.
Even though a tipster has refuted these claims, saying that Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek will launch SoCs on TSMC’s 2nm N2 node, multiple reports are now leaning towards the Android chipset makers gravitating to the improved N2P variant. Now, why is this the case? It is possible that Apple’s rivals want to have an edge in the lithography race. Seeing as how the A19 Pro achieves the best ‘performance per watt’ metrics in Geekbench 6 compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Dimensity 9500, using the same manufacturing process is insufficient to give Qualcomm and MediaTek an advantage.
Apple’s experience in developing in-house CPU & GPU cores outshines the competition
The reason is simple; Apple has been developing in-house chipsets for years and has a phalanx of talented engineers who have been designing custom CPU and GPU cores that outpace the competition. For instance, the A19 Pro’s efficiency cores managed to deliver up to 29 percent better performance at no increase in power consumption this year, which is nothing short of magic. Qualcomm has just entered this game thanks to its Nuvia acquisition, with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 being only its second smartphone SoC to feature entirely in-house cores.
As for the Dimensity 9500, it relies on ARM’s CPU and GPU designs, which helps to lower its costs, but at the expense of being slower and less efficient. Another reason why Qualcomm and MediaTek could opt for TSMC’s 2nm N2P wafers, which are scheduled to enter mass production in the second half of 2026, is that Apple was previously reported to have secured more than half of the initial 2nm supply to keep competitors at bay. Seeing as how Qualcomm and MediaTek would be hunting for breadcrumbs in this manner, a viable alternative would be to jump to the N2P node.
Unfortunately, we cannot confirm if Commercial Times has been repeating the same news, but it is the first time that the outlet has mentioned MediaTek. Analysts estimate that TSMC’s 2nm process will be a scarce resource next year, with the manufacturer expected to mass produce between 15,000 and 20,000 monthly wafers by the end of 2025. For the time being, we recommend readers treat this information with a pinch of salt, and we will return with more updates.
News Source: Commercial Times
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