Samsung hopes to grab Qualcomm’s 6nm & 7nm chip orders

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At present, the global demand for smartphones is weak, and the demand for memory has also dropped significantly, coupled with the fact that the wafer foundry business has successively encountered chip design companies transferring orders to TSMC, Samsung’s semiconductor business can be described as difficult. In the foundry business, in order to narrow the distance with TSMC, Samsung is taking advantage of its group advantages to compete for Qualcomm’s order return.

In Samsung’s financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022, operating profit fell by 69% year-on-year, the continued deterioration of market conditions makes Samsung likely to suffer losses in the first half of 2023, and multiple crises force Samsung to save itself first. According to DigiTimes, Samsung has released very favorable conditions to Qualcomm, and the foundry price will be given a greater discount. It is hoped that Qualcomm will hand over some orders for its Snapdragon 600/700 series chips to Samsung.

Samsung semiconductor R&D center

Although Samsung’s performance in the 4/5nm process is not good, the 6/7nm process is still stable, and TSMC’s foundry prices will rise again in 2023. If the cooperation with Samsung is strengthened, Qualcomm may be able to gain more chips in bargaining and capacity negotiations with TSMC.
Samsung’s goal is not only Qualcomm but also TSMC, hoping to replicate the mutually beneficial model. Recently, MediaTek’s order demand is not too large, and it does not want to offend TSMC. The possibility of cooperation between the two parties is relatively low. However, being able to enter Samsung’s supply chain is also a good thing for MediaTek. In the future, it may be able to better utilize the production capacity of different foundries. At the same time, Samsung’s offer should be attractive to MediaTek.

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