Qualcomm Possibly Won’t Abandon TSMC: Only Conducting Tests With Samsung to Explore Dual Sourcing Options

While it was earlier reported that TSMC is going to begin the 2nm mass production in the second half of this year in 2025 with Apple being the early adopters, recent reports have arrived pointing out that the 2nm process production capacity of TSMC has not been expanded properly, and with increasing testing demands, the mass production costs have become higher. In related news, Apple is thus likely to rely on 3nm chips for its iPhone 17 series, and use the 2nm chips for the next year’s iPhone 18 series, however, it is not yet confirmed yet and merely based on assumptions.

Moreover, TSMC late last month was reported to be conducting tests with global tech companies such as Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD, and in the meantime, Qualcomm and NVIDIA was also working with Samsung Foundry for promoting foundry manufacturer diversification. But later, a report arrived claiming that Qualcomm might plan to ditch TSMC and rely completely on Samsung for 2nm chips and it seems this is not true.

Here’s more about it.

Will Qualcomm Move Away from TSMC?

According to earlier reports (via Wccftech), Qualcomm wants its chips made using the 2nm process technology to be cheap and Apple which is TSMC’s biggest client has already reserved the 2nm mass production facility at TSMC. As TSMC has not yet taken the necessary steps to expand its production capacity effectively, and as the increasing demand is probably expected to bring the cost of mass production high as mentioned, Samsung has come into the picture for Qualcomm. Also, this was said to give Qualcomm a dedicated supplier for 2nm chips, and Samsung may likely be able to get back its business that was lost to TSMC previously because of lower management and yield ratio.

Even if TSMC’s production capacity and cost of production are an issue for tech makers, unlike what was reported, Qualcomm is not likely to depend fully on Samsung and ditch TSMC entirely, as per new reports (via Jukanlosreve). Qualcomm is reportedly never going to stop working with TSMC, and it is currently working with Samsung just to explore dual sourcing options and thereby promote foundry manufacturer diversity.