Rumor: Samsung’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 ambitions derail as TSMC steps in

Samsung Foundry may miss out on producing the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 using its 2nm SF2 process. TSMC’s 3nm yield has reportedly reached an average yield rate of 84%, which is over 4x higher than Samsung’s yield of less than 20%.

According to a Weibo tipster via Jukanlosreve, TSMC will exclusively produce the next Qualcomm chipset using its 3nm process. Deal with Samsung Foundry to fabricate Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 using its 2nm process is reportedly canceled.

Recently, reports emerged claiming Samsung shifted its focus on the 2nm process. The yield rate will play a vital role in attracting major clients. The current state is that Qualcomm may stick to TSMC for the next flagship Snapdragon.

Samsung Foundry worked to grab the title of “world’s first” only. The company has completely failed to improve its 3nm process yield. It’s resulting in back-to-back damages to the semiconductor division as clients stay away.

Exynos 2500 could also be canceled due to failure in improving the 3nm yield. That said, Samsung Elec to solely rely on Qualcomm for Galaxy S25 series chips. Snapdragon 8 Elite to be exclusively used in the next-gen flagships.

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Qualcomm has recently launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile platform. It is the first chipset made using 3nm process technology that powers Android flagships. Apple adopted a 3nm chip with the last year’s iPhone Pro models.

The new Snapdragon features Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU and enhanced GPU. The chip doesn’t have efficiency cores, as the designer considers they are “no longer required.” The new product is slated to offer Apple A18 Pro-like CPU performance.