Samsung Foundry was already facing a struggle to maintain its leading legacy in the chipset market, and now top of that, it lost one of its pivotal clients, Google, to TSMC.
Earlier this year, Samsung debuted the Galaxy S25 series, including three models, and recently launched the Galaxy S25 Edge, all of which are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset instead of its in-house Exynos, due to the lower yield rates.
Samsung Foundry and TSMC are the two leading manufacturers in the chipset market. A new report from the Korean Media revealed that due to the recent struggles, Samsung Foundry lost its key client, Google, to TSMC.
Reportedly, Samsung’s 3nm yields are just 50%, compared to TSMC’s solid 90%, which plays an important role in chip manufacturing. It’s crystal clear why TSMC is leading the race, since Samsung just has a 50% yield rate, which is nearly half the chips it makes pass the quality test. On the rivalry side, 9 out of 10 chipsets from TSMC meet the standard.
This is the key reason forcing OEMs are jump ship from Samsung Foundry and finding a safe harbor at TSMC. Currently, Samsung is looking forward to debuting the Galaxy Z Flip 7, powered by its Exynos chip in the US and Korean markets, whereas in the rest of the market rumored to be based on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The company still received orders for 7nm and 8nm chipsets from Nintendo, but again, the growing competition from China-based foundries could make things tougher in the long run. It will be interesting to see exactly how Samsung will deal with the growing competition in the chipset market.
