Samsung reportedly clears technical hurdles for Qualcomm’s 2nm chips but faces price snag

Samsung has reportedly cleared technical hurdles involved in manufacturing Qualcomm’s 2nm chips, but the companies have not reached an agreement on pricing.

According to the report, Qualcomm is preparing the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 with TSMC’s 2nm lithography. Using TSMC’s process would come at a substantial cost for Qualcomm as it manages pressure on its chipset business during the DRAM crisis.

Working with Samsung could help Qualcomm reduce manufacturing costs. However, the report says that Samsung and Qualcomm have so far failed to finalize an agreement because of differences over pricing.

Samsung’s Exynos 2700 is cited as evidence that the company has stabilized yields for its advanced 2nm process. The report nevertheless says that technical progress has not resolved the commercial issue between the two companies.

The reported situation leaves Qualcomm weighing the cost of using TSMC’s 2nm process against the potential savings from Samsung. No final pricing agreement is reported for manufacturing the upcoming Snapdragon chips.