Yesterday, a source revealed information about Qualcomm’s next-generation chip (codename SM8450). Compared to the Snapdragon 888, this chip has upgrades in both the process and architecture. Industry insiders speculate that the chip will be manufactured by TSMC, but there is no confirmed news yet.
Chen Jin, General Manager of Lenovo’s China mobile business, revealed on Weibo yesterday that multiple Lenovo and Motorola phones with the Snapdragon 8450 chipset will be launched this winter. He also hinted that Qualcomm may have found a solution to the chip shortage problem.
According to TSMC’s plan, if this chip chooses TSMC’s 4nm process, mass production cannot be achieved by the end of this year, but the possibility of Samsung manufacturing the chip is not ruled out.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 was manufactured by TSMC, while the subsequent Snapdragon 800 series chips were all produced by Samsung, including the Snapdragon 820, Snapdragon 835, and Snapdragon 845. However, the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 865 series returned to being manufactured by TSMC. In addition, Samsung also produces chips such as the Snapdragon 765.
According to Digital Chat Station, Qualcomm has secured 6nm and 5nm production capacity after switching to TSMC. New devices powered by Qualcomm’s latest SoC are expected to be launched in the second half of this year.
Earlier this year, Taiwan’s DigiTimes reported that the Snapdragon 895 (unnamed) will use Samsung’s 5nm enhanced process, but it is expected to switch to TSMC’s process in 2022, and the TSMC 4nm process will be packaged by Apple for the first batch of all production capacity.
