Samsung allegedly overtakes TSMC in 2-nanometer manufacturing technology

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Samsung wants to be the first manufacturer to launch a smartphone with a processor in the 2-nanometer class. And these SoCs developed in-house (Exynos 2600) and by Qualcomm (Snapdragon 8 Elite 2) are also to be manufactured by Samsung's production division. If the plan works out, Samsung Foundry could overtake arch-rival TSMC's N2 technology with its SF2 production technology.

Intel wants to start even earlier with Intel 18A, but not in smartphones. According to South Korean industry publications, Samsung is working hard to complete the new SF2 chips in time for the upcoming Galaxy S26 smartphone generation, which is expected to be released in spring 2026 in line with the current annual rhythm. This would be a major success for Samsung Foundry, which has had little luck with its SF3 technology, leaving TSMC's N3 to dominate the market.

Samsung already uses both Exynos SoCs from its own development and production and Snapdragon SoCs from Qualcomm in previous Galaxy smartphones, depending on the market region and device class. New Daily recently reported that the upcoming Exynos 2600 has recently entered "prototype mass production". This probably means that Samsung Foundry is testing and optimizing mass production in SF2 using the Exynos 2600.

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Processor manufacturers like to use the term pipe-cleaning for this process. With the first chip in a new production process, not everything is running smoothly yet. In particular, the ratio of usable chips to unusable rejects, the so-called yield, initially tends strongly towards rejects. In return for this risk and the associated higher costs, the launch customer gets exclusive access to the very latest production technology before anyone else.

At TSMC, the pipe cleaner was always Apple during the last process launches. This allowed Apple to sell improved processors earlier than the competition. In this way, the M processor family gained an advantage over the x86 competition.

Apple is likely to continue to rely on TSMC in the future – with consequences. The ramp-up of TSMC N2 is scheduled for the second half of 2025, similar to Samsung SF2. However, Apple has a different smartphone cycle than Samsung: The next iPhone (iPhone 17) is expected to be released in fall 2025 and not in spring 2026 like the Galaxy S26.

TSMC's N2 is therefore probably too late for the iPhones of 2025; according to speculation, Apple's A19 and A19 Pro will probably use an improved version of TSMC N3. Apple will probably not use TSMC N2 until the A20 for the iPhone 18 (fall 2026).

Snapdragon special model

Samsung, on the other hand, also uses Qualcomm's high-end Snapdragon in its high-end Galaxy smartphones for some markets. The current top model Snapdragon 8 Elite was unveiled at the end of 2024 and comes off the production line in TSMC's N3 process. The chip was the first with Oryon cores in this process stage; the Snapdragon X Elite notebook processor is still built in N4.

Since the update of the latter is much more urgent – the chip was already presented at the end of 2023 – and Qualcomm also wants to bring the Oryon cores into servers, the next smartphone Snapdragon is more likely to take a small step forward, it could stay with a newer version of TSMC N3. This in turn presents Samsung with the dilemma that there would be a Galaxy S26 with a 2-nanometer CPU (Eyxnos) and one with a 3-nanometer CPU (Snapdragon). The situation would be unfortunate for marketing – especially since Samsung is certainly planning to take the butter off Apple's bread in 2026 by referring to 2-nanometer production.

The alleged solution: According to the Business Post, Samsung is implementing the next smartphone Snapdragon, which Qualcomm is developing for TSMC N3 (codenamed Kaanapali), itself for the SF2 process (Kaanapali S). It is reasonable to assume that Samsung will then be able to use the SF2 Snapdragon exclusively. The Galaxy S25 does not use the off-the-shelf Snapdragon 8 Elite, but a special version called Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. This is reminiscent of earlier times when Microsoft used the first to third generation of the Snapdragon 8cx notebook processor in the exclusive SQ1 to SQ3 variants for its Surface Pro tablets. At that time, the difference in name suggested much more than was actually behind it on a technical basis ...

Samsung gains momentum

Qualcomm does not only seem to be flirting with Samsung as a contract manufacturer for the special Snapdragon. An SF2 chip codenamed Trailblazer, which could be an automotive CPU, is also said to have been ordered from Samsung. If other rumor mongers are to be believed, Nvidia is also interested in SF2. Nvidia was one of the customers that Samsung lost with SF3 because it did not reach the necessary maturity. Samsung is also said to have lost Apple and Google as potential customers as a result.

The fact that Samsung is once again becoming more successful as a silicon contract manufacturer is also being reported in other places these days. AMD is also said to be showing interest, specifically with regard to the I/O chiplet, which is to become part of upcoming Ryzen processors. However, SF2 is not necessary for this, SF4 is sufficient. For comparison: In current Ryzen CPUs for desktop PCs, the I/O chiplet comes off the production line at TSMC in N6.

(mue)