Whether or not Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S25 series will use the Exynos 2500 chip in any capacity remains unclear, but some evidence suggests that the flagship lineup will follow a two-pronged chip strategy at least in some regions. By recent accounts, the Exynos 2500 SoC is still in development, but the biggest problem for Samsung might be poor yield rather than poor performance.
Samsung Foundry is reportedly having a hard time getting the 3nm manufacturing node running efficiently. The company has been plagued with difficulties manufacturing 3nm chips, and this could spell trouble for the Exynos 2500 SoC.
Exynos cannot catch a break
The Exynos 2500 chip, which is supposed to both compete and coexist with the bonkers Snapdragon 8 Elite solution from Qualcomm, might be extremely wasteful and very costly to produce.
According to the Korean media (via @Jukanlosreve), Samsung Foundry's chip yield for the 3nm node is less than 20%.
In other words, fewer than 20% of all the chips Samsung manufactures using its 3nm process are usable. The rest can't pass Samsung's manufacturing inspection and are rendered unusable.
Although the recent report doesn't outright mention the Exynos 2500 chip, the latter is supposed to be manufactured on the same Samsung's 3nm node that suffers from such low yield. Which means the Exynos 2500 might be in trouble.
A low yield means Samsung spends more money to manufacture fewer chips. The more wasteful the production process, the more time-consuming, inefficient, and expensive it is.
So far, based on some of the reports we've come across concerning the state of 3nm manufacturing at Samsung's chip plants, the Exynos 2500 doesn't sound like it's doing the company any favors. And that's a real shame, given how solid the 4nm Exynos 2400 has been this year.
Let's hope things aren't as bad as they sound in these early reports and Samsung's chip division can pull through with a solid Exynos 2500 chip in terms of both performance and yield.
