Samsung might outsource Exynos to TSMC and scrap in-house Snapdragon plans

There isn’t any scarcity of attention-grabbing Samsung system-on-a-chip developments, as a outstanding tipster has simply revealed Samsung’s potential shift to TSMC for future Exynos manufacturing (through @Jukanlosreve). Samsung’s hopes to undertake a part of the Snapdragon 8 Elite fabrication pipeline seem like dashed, as properly, partly in mild of Samsung Foundry’s continued struggles with low yields.

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The Samsung-developed, TSMC-Exynos future

And what positives and negatives it might entail

The S24 FE’s Exynos and Pixel 8a’s Tensor might quickly come from Taiwan as an alternative of South Korea.

Exynos chips have lengthy drawn customers’ ire for a number of causes. Their famous overheating has been claimed to soften microSD playing cards along with getting telephones hotter to the contact than is widespread or comfy. Overheating has additionally led to frequent thermal throttling. Customers usually criticize battery life, and Exynos-powered units merely cannot match the efficiency of comparable Snapdragon-driven items. Whereas the hole has supposedly closed significantly within the final two years, the fame persists.

Plus, utilization is not all the things. Samsung’s SF3E-3GAE 3mm node, largely accountable for producing cryptocurrency miners and related ASICs, maxed out at roughly 60% yield and by no means met its goal of 70%. The second-generation SF3-3GAP 3mm course of, meant to ship Exynos 2500 chips, has sat at a paltry 20% yield for months and exhibits no indicators of bettering (blogger Yeux1122 through @Jukanlosreve).

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In different phrases, Samsung merely cannot produce sufficient top-of-the-line Exynos chips to go round. Poor yields enhance the efficient worth per chip, too, making a transfer to TSMC’s extra expensive manufacturing much less financially intimidating. And whereas Samsung struggles to get two-thirds of its chips working accurately, TSMC fabrication is rumored to fabricate at a hit price averaging 84% (through @yamazaki1812) or presumably even nearer to 90% (through @Jukanlosreve). What’s extra, TSMC has closely wager on new US-based manufacturing, repeatedly doubling down with expanded funding.

The knock-on results of Samsung’s poor yield proceed. The detrimental outlook has precipitated Samsung problem in attracting and retaining shoppers, as even Google has jumped ship and tapped TSMC for future Tensor manufacturing. Moreover, the poor efficiency has impressed Samsung to desert plans to tackle a part of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 manufacturing load (through @Jukanlosreve).

Consensus holds that TSMC’s course of, along with extra environment friendly manufacturing numbers, delivers extra implicitly sound {hardware} much less susceptible to thermal and efficiency inconsistencies. A swap from in-house fabrication to TSMC outsourcing might additional drag Exynos’ fame again from the underside of the barrel. Whereas some leakers have interpreted indicators as indicating Galaxy telephones may ditch Snapdragon for 2026, too, the ever-vigilant @Jukanlosreve maintains that the Galaxy S26 might nonetheless make use of the Exynos 2600 — supplied the manufacturing numbers are there.

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Whereas this attention-grabbing determination will nearly definitely price Samsung cash, it is clearly taking place for a motive. Keep tuned for the newest fabrication rumors and their affect on the smartphone business, as there’ll undoubtedly be extra developments as 2025 rolls round. Within the meantime, preserve a watch out for the all-Snapdragon Galaxy S25 lineup to debut on January 5, 2025.