5NM Chips: Samsung Bags Order From Qualcomm

The deal between Samsung and Qualcomm is estimated to be worth one trillion won ($844 million)

Samsung has grabbed an order to manufacture 5G chips for Qualcomm. As per a report published in the Korean Investors, this is the first time that Korea-headquartered Samsung will be manufacturing all of Qualcomm’s latest chips.

The company, as per the same report, will be manufacturing Snapdragon 875 5G chipset. It is to be noted here that Samsung, till now, has been manufacturing 5g Chipsets, using 8NM process.

5NM chips

The report highlights that Samsung will be using the latest 5-nanometer (NM) process to manufacture these chipsets for Qualcomm. Only Samsung and TSMC have the technology to manufacture 5NM technology based chips in the world. The company is also said to be in talks with Intel.

Samsung has been looking to compete more aggressively in the global foundry market since the last few months. Samsung vice chairman, Jay Y. Lee, in 2019, had said that the company was looking to inject 133 trillion won ($112 billion) into its system semiconductor operations. The same was being planned to make sure that Samsung reaches the number one spot in the global foundry business.

A report published by TrendForce points out that Samsung had a 17.4 per cent market share in the global foundry industry in the third quarter of the year. TSMC, on the other hand has 53.9 per cent share. The foundry industry posted a combined revenue of $57.2 billion in the January-September period of this year.

The company had recently announced plans to boost its foundry capacity at the company’s new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, to meet growing global demand for cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) solutions. Samsung was scheduled to start mass production of 5nm EUV process in the Hwaseong fab in the second half of this year.