TSMC ahead in 3nm process, Samsung struggles for next Snapdragon, Tensor

TSMC managed to secure its lead in the latest 3nm foundry process. It would further widen the gap with rivals such as Samsung and SMIC. Samsung failed to win orders for its most advanced 3nm foundry process due to yield and efficiency concerns.

Global semiconductor vendors could opt for the TSMC 3nm process this year. After Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, MediaTek, and Google will be joining the Taiwanese chip maker. Samsung missed orders from Qualcomm and Google for their next-gen chips.

Samsung’s contract manufacturing division’s prototypes have lagged behind TSMC. The company’s foundry yield and power efficiency concerns offered an early lead to TSMC in the 3nm race. Google and Qualcomm ultimately chose TSMC after careful consideration for their 2025 chips.

Samsung Foundry had been working hard to secure Qualcomm and Google orders for next-generation chip. The next generation Tensor processor will be manufactured by TSMC. Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is also being produced in Taiwan on a 3nm process node.

The Korean tech giant was the first to commence (in June 2022) mass production of the 3nm process using the GAAFET process. Despite entering its third year since introducing the 3nm process semiconductors, the OEM has struggled to secure customers.

The Exynos 2500, developed in-house and produced using Samsung Foundry’s 3nm process, has faced similar yield issues. The efficiency is still 10-20% lower compared to TSMC, suggesting a potential cancellation to be used in the Galaxy S25 series next year.

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