Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC will be manufactured by TSMC, Samsung dropped
After losing her manufacturing job in 2022 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip by TSMC due to the low yield percentage, Samsung manufacturing process has improved its performance so much that in April of this year a report stated that Qualcomm was reportedly considering using both TSMC and Samsung for dual supply Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 SoC next year.
However, in August, an insider stated that all Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 application processors will be manufactured by Samsung Foundry using their more advanced 3nm Gate All-Around (GAA) process.
Unlike TSMC's FinFET transistors used in the 3nm process, the GAA transistors used by Samsung include vertically placed horizontal nano-sheets that allow the channels to be filled on all four sides (with FinFETs it's only three sides).
This helps reduce current dissipation and increases voltage, resulting in better chip performance that consumes less power. TSMC will not switch to GAA transistors until it starts manufacturing chips in 2nm technology
GizChina.itNew information arrived today from a Korean source Tech Newswhich states that TSMC will be approved by Qualcomm to be the sole manufacturer of its next flagship AP, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. The chip will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm process node.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be the first to use Qualcomm Oryon cores
San Diego-based Qualcomm has high expectations for the new chipset. It will be the first to use custom Qualcomm Oryon cores, which means the global tech community will be keeping a close eye on Geekbench results to see what AP performance is like, regardless of the manufacturer.
For those who believe that dual-sourcing is a much better solution, the good news is that Qualcomm hasn't given up on having both TSMC and Samsung Foundry make its latest AP. Tech News claims that the double supply has only been postponed to 2025, i.e. for the production of Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 APs.
Dual supply has already been used once before to produce chipsets for large smartphones. In 2015, Apple used the A9 SoC from TSMC, but also Samsung Foundry for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The chip was manufactured by Samsung using their 14 nm FinFET LPE process, while TSMC produced it on their 16 nm FinFET process.