Samsung is to become another foundry in the Snapdragon race to the top, according to the EETimes in Korea. Qualcomm, the designer of the Snapdragon S4, has been dealing with shortages of its 28nm chips for months, leading to product delays and shortages. In addition to Samsung, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) will contribute between 20% and 30% of TSMC’s current volumes, hopefully alleviating some of the backlog.
At their current rates, shortages of 28nm chips were expected to continue into Q1 2013. As other manufacturers, Samsung included, integrate LTE into their chips, the demand for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoCs will drop, but at this time it is the only on-die LTE solution for manufacturers to use, which is why we are seeing the chips in Samsung’s and HTC’s flagship devices.
Details of the deal with Samsung have not been disclosed, but as we told you previously, the company has been planning its own 20nm fabrication method for its next-generation Exynos chipsets.
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