Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has travelled to South Korea for meetings with Samsung executives, with discussions centred on manufacturing chips using Samsung’s 2nm process node as Qualcomm weighs a potential shift in its fabrication strategy for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.
A return to Samsung would end a three-year absence, with Qualcomm having moved its flagship SoC production to TSMC in 2022 following yield problems and overheating issues that made Samsung’s foundry an unreliable option for high-volume, performance-critical silicon at the time.
Samsung has since addressed those manufacturing problems, and the combination of resolved yield issues and rising TSMC pricing has apparently reopened the conversation between the two companies, with Amon having first confirmed publicly at CES in January that talks with Samsung were already underway.
The timing of the visit suggests those discussions have progressed beyond the exploratory stage, though no agreement has been confirmed and Qualcomm has not made any public statement about which foundry will produce the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 or when a decision is expected.
Samsung’s 2nm process targets improved transistor density and power efficiency over the 3nm node that currently underpins the Snapdragon 8 Elite, meaning the fabrication decision carries direct implications for the Gen 6’s performance and thermal headroom across flagship Android devices from manufacturers including Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus.
Any shift away from TSMC would also represent a notable change in the semiconductor supply chain at a moment when geopolitical pressure on Taiwan-based manufacturing has prompted several major chipmakers to actively diversify their foundry relationships across multiple production sites and regions.
Qualcomm has not confirmed a timeline for when a fabrication decision will be announced, though the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is expected to enter mass production in the second half of 2026 ahead of its typical autumn reveal.
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