Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to be unveiled in October this year, with a company executive hinting that it will be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 due to developing those custom Oryon cores. However, the high price of the upcoming SoC is not entirely Qualcomm’s fault, as the San Diego firm’s decision to exclusively employ TSMC’s 3nm ‘N3E’ process is also a contributing factor, as mass producing such wafers is not cheap. This would be one reason why the latest report states that the chipset maker is pursuing a dual-sourcing strategy for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, where the silicon could be fabricated by both Samsung and TSMC.
Qualcomm CEO states that the company welcomes collaboration with both TSMC and Samsung, hinting at a different strategy for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
During a media briefing at a hotel in Taiwan on June 4, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon addressed a journalist’s question regarding the possibility of working with both Samsung and TSMC for a future chipset. According to Business Korea, Amon is contemplating a dual-sourcing partnership. Remember that this is not the first time Qualcomm has mulled such a business deal, as it attempted to materialize a collaboration with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Unfortunately, due to Samsung’s poor yields, all orders were reportedly given to TSMC.
Samsung has seemingly commenced development of its 2nm GAA process codenamed ‘Thetis,’ but before that, Qualcomm was reported to have requested the Korean and Taiwanese foundry to provide it with 2nm samples as it wishes to form a dual-sourcing strategy when launching the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in 2025. The biggest obstacle from Qualcomm is ensuring that each chipset variant performs identically in both raw performance and efficiency, or the company risks its goodwill getting tarnished.
Then again, Samsung and TSMC may offer different quotes for their Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 versions, so Qualcomm would be willing to provide shipments to its phone partners who cannot absorb the premium price of the better performing version. Switching to two foundries will also benefit phone manufacturers who rely on Qualcomm SoCs too, as they will not be forced to raise their flagship prices for consumers. This strategy will help companies avoid compromising their devices’ overall hardware configurations. Hopefully, Qualcomm will be successful in conjuring up some deals.
News Source: Business Korea
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