Latest news with #SamsungFoundry
Phone Arena
a day ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
Everyone wants TSMC to build their 3nm chips as Samsung Foundry has trouble finding customers
Let's say you work for a major device manufacturer that is a fabless chip designer. In other words, while you design your own chips, you lack the facilities to produce them which explains the fabless label (Fab is short for a semiconductor fabrication facility). Suppose part of your job is to decide which foundry is going to build your chips. Right now, if you need advanced semiconductors, you have only two possibilities, TSMC and Samsung Foundry. But if you need your chips built using the most advanced process node of 3nm, there is no choice. TSMC is the foundry of choice. You might have to pay more and hope that there isn't a capacity issue that forces your order to be put on allocation by the foundry. However, if reliability is an issue, which it usually is, you want the foundry churning out 3nm chips with a 90% yield rather than the one with a 50% yield at that node which is Samsung Foundry. Big tech firms that count themselves as TSMC customers include Apple, MediaTek, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. The latter had decided to have Samsung Foundry produce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 during 2021-2022. However, the foundry reportedly had an extremely low 35% yield and Qualcomm pulled its business from Samsung Foundry. Instead, it reworked the chipset and had it built by TSMC as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+. Since then, Qualcomm has relied on TSMC exclusively to manufacture its flagship Snapdragon 8 SoCs. The extreme ultraviolet lithography machine helped to take chip production under 5nm. | Image credit-ASML While TSMC is clearly the most reliable in-demand foundry, Samsung Foundry is a distant second. Coming up fast behind Samsung is China's SMIC which happens to be the third-largest foundry in the world. Due to U.S. and Dutch sanctions, SMIC is not allowed to purchase an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machine used to transfer circuitry patterns onto silicon wafers using lines thinner than human hair. EUV machines allow for the placement of billions of transistors inside these semiconductors. SMIC reportedly is using older Deep Ultraviolet Lithography (DUV) machines, purchased before sanctions hit, to build Huawei's new 5nm Kirin X90 chip used to power the Mate Book Pro laptop. The foundry also uses multiple impressions in an attempt to make up for the lack of an EUV machine. However, this results in lower costs and higher prices for such chips. Still, SMIC is ready to make 5nm and 7nm chips for the Chinese automotive manufacturing sector which would be another blow to Samsung Foundry which has been doing brisk business making such chips for these Chinese-based firms. With 2nm chips coming to smartphones next year, including the iPhone 17 line, TSMC will remain on top and possibly stay there well beyond 2026.
Phone Arena
21-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Samsung's decacore Exynos 2500 AP once again is rumored to power Galaxy Z Flip 7
Back in February, Samsung Foundry's well known yield issues with its 3nm production forced Samsung to use the more expensive Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy application processor (AP) on all Galaxy S25 models instead of employing the homegrown Exynos 2500 on certain units. At the time, there was already speculation that the Exynos 2500 AP would be used by Samsung to power the Galaxy Z Flip 7 when the clamshell foldable's latest iteration is released this summer. A new report released today says that we should indeed see the Exynos 2500 running the Galaxy Z Flip 7 in most markets including South Korea and India. This will be a first for a Galaxy Z device as all previous units of the Fold and Flip featured a Snapdragon chipset under the hood. The Exynos 2500 AP carries a model number of S5E9955 and the component might still be used by Samsung on variants of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 shipped to the U.S. and China. Exynos SoCs have been traditionally viewed as being less powerful than Qualcomm's Snapdragon silicon. Besides underperforming Snapdragon APs, the Exynos chipsets have been known to overheat and there have been other complaints concerning the modem. Designed by Sammy's in-house chip design unit and built on Samsung Foundry's second generation 3nm process node, the Exynos 2500 will reportedly use a decacore configuration that includes 10 CPU cores. The latest rumor involving the Exynos 2500 AP says that the SoC will feature: 1 Cortex X-925 CPU Prime Core with a maximum clock speed of 3.3GHz 2 Cortex A-725 CPU Premium-Efficiency Cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.75GHz 5 Cortex A-725 CPU Premium-Efficiency Cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.36GHz 2-Cortex A-520 CPU Efficiency Cores with a maximum clock speed of 1.80 GHz The Exynos 2500 will also feature the Xclipse 950 GPU, which is based on AMD's RDNA 3.5 architecture. With 16MB of L3 cache, apps should load faster resulting in smoother multitasking.
India Today
10-05-2025
- India Today
Samsung may turn to MediaTek for next Fan Edition phone, says report ahead of Galaxy S25 Edge launch
During the Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event, Samsung unveiled its three smartphones: the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. And now the fourth smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, is confirmed to launch in India on May 13. But, based on traditions, we also expect a fifth S25 variant -- Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. While there is no official notification so far, a recent report has highlighted a few insights of the Fan Edition model. According to recent rumours, the S25 FE is expected to ditch the Exynos 2400e chip and may pack a MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip. advertisementSamsung Galaxy S25 FE chipset details Since the FE models are known to be a toned-down version of the series. Similarly, while we were expecting modest specs, the new report points at an unprecedented upgrade. According to a report from NoteBookCheck, which cites anonymous industry sources, Samsung is considering equipping the upcoming Galaxy S25 FE with MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 chipset. While the Exynos 2400e remains the preferred option, production capacity issues at Samsung Foundry may force the company to adopt MediaTek's silicon as a final hardware decision is expected to hinge on market conditions closer to launch. Although the Dimensity 9400 appears to outperform the Exynos 2400e on paper, Samsung is likely to favour its own chip to bolster its foundry business and avoid the higher manufacturing costs associated with TSMC, which produces MediaTek's Last year's Galaxy S24 FE featured the Exynos 2400e, and earlier reports suggested Samsung might reuse the same processor in this year's Fan Edition model. This chipset has also been rumoured for use in the yet-to-be-confirmed Galaxy Z Flip Galaxy S25 FE to feature Android 16 According to another report by Sam Mobile, Samsung has begun to develop the software for the Galaxy S25 FE. The smartphone was spotted with model number SM-S731U and firmware version S731USQU0AYDH. This simply means that Samsung has started to lay the groundwork for the software which will run on the Galaxy S25 FE. Considering the spotting, the smartphone is expected to run on One UI 8 based on Android 16 out of the box. It was further highlighted that the smartphone could offer up to seven years of OS upgrades after its official Galaxy S25 FE is expected to debut either at the tail end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2025. As with previous Fan Edition devices, it is likely to be a pared-down version of the main Galaxy S25 (review), which runs on a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor.
Digital Trends
09-05-2025
- Digital Trends
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE might favor power over price
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is expected to launch later this year, offering flagship-level performance and features at a more affordable price. While it's long been expected to launch with the Exynos 2400e chip, a new report suggests Samsung might go with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 instead, citing production issues with Samsung Foundry. The report comes from NotebookCheck's Anil Ganti via one of their internal sources. According to the source, Samsung still intends to launch the Galaxy S25 FE with the Exynos 2400e, but the company has a backup plan in case production issues arise, and that's the Dimensity 9400. While Samsung has previously used Mediatek chips in the Galaxy Tab S10 lineup, it poses several notable downsides versus the Exynos. Recommended Videos Cost is first and foremost. The Dimensity 9400 is a more powerful chip, but it's also more expensive due to both its specs and the need to purchase it from MediaTek. The Exynos 2400e would allow Samsung to produce the needed silicon in-house and bring revenue to Samsung Foundry. In the Galaxy S24 generation, the Galaxy S24 FE was the only handset receiving Exynos 2400e chips. Some rumors suggest the yields could be split between the Galaxy S25 FE and the Galaxy Z Flip FE, and that's where the concern lies. Earlier this year, reports emerged that Samsung Foundry would cut its chip production by 50 percent to address quality concerns, and last year it delayed production of 2nm chips. Samsung Foundry has suffered numerous setbacks recently, leaving fans concerned that it won't be able to meet demand. The Galaxy S25 FE is meant to be a more affordable phone, and the chip plays a big role in that. Using an Exynos chip allows Samsung to keep costs lower. If Samsung has to use the Dimensity 9400 instead, it would drive up not only production costs, but potentially the final price of the phone.
Forbes
30-03-2025
- Forbes
New Details Confirm Google's Powerful Pixel 10 Pro Upgrades
Pixel 9 Pro XL Google's new Tensor G5 chipset is just one of many planned upgrades to the Pixel 10 Pro and the wider Pixel family in 2025, but switching from Samsung Foundry to TSMC for its fabrication is one of the core changes the Pixel platform has to deal with. What does that mean for the Pixel 10 Pro, what advantages will this offer and what impact can consumers expect to see? The move to using TSMC's foundry means the Tensor G5 will be moving to a 3nm process. That brings with it some natural advantages. One of the most noticeable effects on consumers will be an increase in battery life. In general, 3nm chipsets will be more efficient than the larger 4nm chipsets—which the Tensor G4 is built around. The obvious impact will be longer battery life while the handset uses the same performance levels, or more performance for a similar battery drain compared to last year's Pixel 9 family. It's worth noting that Google has not pushed the idea of the Pixel family as a platform for ultimate performance since arguably the Pixel 4, this last Pixel handset to ship with a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8-styled chipset. Instead, the Tensor mobile designs have been built around offering a smoother user experience; in the modern smartphone world, that means running artificial intelligence routines as quickly and efficiently as possible. Expect to see a significant volume of AI routines hard-coded into the Tensor chipset rather than loaded ad-hoc into memory via software. The move away from Samsung Foundry requires switching out the Samsung-manufactured subsystems. Given the focus on imaging in every modern smartphone, Google is taking full control of the Image Signal Processor. While Google contributed some parts of this system, the majority was off-the-shelf Samsung hardware. Now, the company is going 'all-in' on this part of the photo and video processing toolchain. Another area of change will be in the display controller. Samsung's display processing uni will be replaced by one from VeriSilicon, with the DC9000 being suggested. Can you sell a phone to consumers purely for 'having better battery life"? Google is talking about a 25 percent increase in usable time on the Pixel 9a, and surely the Pixel 10 family will offer a comparable step up. What about 'this is a more efficient phone' or 'we're pushing the pixels to your display through a different methodology'? There's probably a tiny percentage of the smartphone-buying population that is going to get very excited about those features. Still, they will not be enough to grab either the market share or the mind share that the Pixel project demands. However, the stronger foundations they offer open up more consumer-friendly upgrades. Longer battery life offers more security to consumers. Faster AI routines mean consumer-facing features such as Magic Eraser to remove unwanted objects from photographs, summarising web pages, and processing personal information through Gemini Assistant. Google may not be chasing ultimate power but any increase in the benchmarking score of the Pixel 10 Pro and the rest of the Pixel 10 family will be seen as a boon to consumer expectations. Last year saw the Pixel 9 family announced Aug. 13, 2024 before going on retail sale on Sept. 4. Google is expected to launch the Pixel 10 on a similar schedule. The Pixel 9a will launch before the Pixel 10 Pro. Read more about the Pixel 9a's improved camera hardware and software here on Forbes…
