Dealing blow to Samsung, Galaxy S26’s Snapdragon chip to be made by TSMC

The latest report claims TSMC will manufacture the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, dealing a blow to Samsung. Qualcomm still prefers its Taiwanese chip producer for the next-gen products due to reliable process nodes and yields.

Samsung lost to TSMC in securing Qualcomm orders for the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 that will be used in the Galaxy S26 series. The chip designer has even refused Samsung Foundry to award production orders for the Snapdragon 8s Elite.

The Korean tech giant was struggling to win back Qualcomm as a foundry customer. The US chip designer has switched to Taiwan’s TSMC after overheating and performance issues in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 product.

Samsung Foundry hasn’t achieved sufficient yields with its second-generation 3nm process node. The Exynos 2500 is also canceled to be featured in the Galaxy S25 series, rendering the Snapdragon 8 Elite exclusivity.

After Qualcomm, Google has also ditched the Samsung. The Pixel 10 series’ Tensor chipset will be manufactured using TSMC’s 3nm process. Google has no plans to switch back to Samsung for Tensor production anytime soon.

Reports suggest that the Exynos 2500 will power the Galaxy Z Flip 7. It will be the first time a Samsung foldable will use the Exynos chip. This way, the company won’t need large-scale production and exist in the mobile AP market.

Exynos 2500 is expected to enter the production stage early next year. Samsung has to prove its 3nm process reliability and yield to attract customers for the next-gen 2nm process technology, slated for commercialization in late 2025.

Source – TheBell, Via – Jukanlosreve