There have been rumors about a new 4nm premium Qualcomm chipset that sits below its flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite in the lineup. It was believed that this chipset would be called the Snapdragon 8s Elite, but the latest rumors suggest that it may be called the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 instead.
What's in a name, though? The more interesting aspect is where Qualcomm will get the chip made. Samsung might have been in with a chance since its 4nm process is tried and tested, but that doesn't appear to be the case, as Qualcomm seems to be going with TSMC once again.
TSMC may be the sole supplier of this 4nm chip to Qualcomm
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is rumored to feature a 3.21GHz Cortex-X4 prime core alongside three 3.01GHz Cortex-A720 performance cores, two 2.8GHz Cortex-A720 and two additional 2.02GHz Cortex-A720 cores. You'll notice that this chip uses off-the-shelf cores instead of Qualcomm's custom Oryon cores.
Qualcomm has reportedly chosen TSMC to manufacture this chip on the 4nm process. One has to wonder if the loss of confidence inspired by Samsung's beleaguered 3nm process is so significant that it has prevented Qualcomm from trusting Samsung's tried and tested 4nm process for this new chip?
Samsung started mass producing chips on its first-generation 4nm process, SF4E, back in 2021. It made the Exynos 2200 on it, a Google Tensor chip, and other semiconductors. Qualcomm has used it as well for the production of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 as well as 5G modems.
The Korean giant has continued to upgrade its 4nm process over the years to maintain technical parity with TSMC. 2023's upgrade had brought Samsung's 4nm yield on par with its Taiwanese rival. Earlier this month, Samsung also began mass production of its fourth-generation 4nm chips that supports latest 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies.
As it struggles to win 3nm orders, Samsung has shifted gears to try and get more orders for its legacy processes, but it appears that the trust deficit has widened so significantly that major clients are still happy to stick with TSMC, instead of rolling the dice with Samsung.
