Digitimes: Qualcomm will add TSMC as a contract factory for Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

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According to Digitimes, due to the low manufacturing yield of Samsung's 4nm process, Qualcomm may use TSMC as one of the flagship SoC contract factories in the future.

Digitimes said that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 just launched by Qualcomm uses Samsung's latest 4nm process, but sources say Samsung is still improving its 4nm process production rate, which is currently estimated to be only 30%, while the low yield may affect shipments of Qualcomm's latest flagship smartphone SoC.

Power issues related to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 SoC built using Samsung's 5nm process technology have led Qualcomm to return some of its orders for high-end chips to TSMC, but competitors, including Apple and MediaTek, have booked most of TSMC's available 5nm and 4nm process capacity for their flagship smartphone SoC series, according to sources.

Even so, it expects Qualcomm to significantly increase its wafer operating rate at TSMC in 2022, while Intel is seen as another potential partner of Qualcomm, the source added. Qualcomm intends to reduce its reliance on single-generation factories.

According to Digitimes Research, Qualcomm will expand its wafer operations at TSMC, not only for its Snapdragon 8 series mobile SoC, but also for its 2022 7 and 6 series, when the Taiwanese foundry will be responsible for 65 per cent of Qualcomm's total mobile SoC production.