At the moment there are probably only a handful of companies in the world that have the facilities and processes necessary to manufacture the chipsets that are found in smartphones today. This includes the likes of Samsung and TSMC, both of whom have regularly made the headlines when it comes to chipset production, especially with regards to Apple.However Samsung’s facilities are also used to manufacture for others, including themselves, but also Qualcomm. However if a report from Nikkei is to be believed, Samsung could lose a bulk of their business with Qualcomm in the later part of 2018. Instead it seems that TSMC could be poised to takeover from Samsung with the production of Qualcomm’s 2019 flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 855.
The report quotes chip industry executives as saying, “Qualcomm is engaging TSMC to roll out a modem chip very soon in the first half of 2018 and TSMC will manufacture the mobile giant’s upcoming flagship Snapdragon processor, known as Snapdragon 855, before the end of next year.”
As it stands, Samsung has been and is responsible for chipsets like the Snapdragon 835 that has been found in 2017’s smartphones, and also the Snapdragon 845 which will find their way into 2018’s flagship smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ if the rumors are true. If the report is accurate, gaining Qualcomm’s business will no doubt be a huge boon for TSMC who is said to be the sole supplier to Apple for the Cupertino company’s A-series of chipsets.