Samsung has reportedly wanted to have its self-designed Exynos chip produced externally. In addition to its own foundry, the South Korean company is angling to become a client of Taiwanese powerhouse TSMC. But that company, normally always available for a price, is said to have refused.
So claims tipster on X @Jukanlosreve, who has previously shared and revealed details about Samsung’s goings-on accurately. The possible reason for refusing Exynos manufacturing may be to protect the secrecy of TSMC’s processes. For years, the company’s yields, or the percentage of usable chips from the manufacturing process, have been much higher than at competitors Samsung and Intel. It has led chip powers like Nvidia, Apple, AMD and Qualcomm to pay high prices to secure wafer space at the Taiwanese company.
Why not Samsung and Intel?
TSMC has pretty much the same machines as its competitors. The ASML lithography, packaging facilities and other stations are virtually identical to what Intel and Samsung can buy ‘off the shelf’, if you will. But, as current Deputy Co-COO and SVP Kevin Zhang deftly put it last year, “The driver experience is just as important as the performance of the car.” In short, the secret behind TSMC’s success lies in its internal processes.
Samsung could learn from this by outsourcing its own Exynos SoCs to TSMC. After all, chip manufacturing requires some collaboration between the designer and the manufacturer. No doubt Intel is also taking note of TSMC’s processes by partially entrusting its own chip tiles to the company. However, Intel Foundry is an entirely separate business unit. TSMC seems relatively confident in that separation, which is also legally enforceable. When it comes to Samsung, that confidence may not be there. How real the risk of leaking critical information is, remains unclear.
Back on Exynos
Samsung has often used its line of Exynos chips for its own phones. Other phone makers almost always opt for products made by MediaTek or Qualcomm. With the S24 series, the South Korean company itself went for a hodgepodge of Qualcomm Snapdragons and Exynos SoCs. With the S25 series, rumors say this will be shaken up again: every S25 model is said to use Snapdragon. All will become clear on Jan. 22, when Galaxy Unpacked takes place.