Samsung Fails to Secure Qualcomm’s 2026 Flagship Chipset Orders

While Samsung hopes to bounce back in the semiconductor industry in the 2nm era, it has already faced setbacks. The Korean firm reportedly failed to secure an order for Qualcomm’s 2026 flagship chipset. Industry leader and arch-rival TSMC walked away with all the orders, thanks to its dominance in cutting-edge chip manufacturing.

Qualcomm reportedly chooses TSMC for 2nm Snapdragon chips

It looks like Qualcomm is already in talks with chip manufacturers for its next year’s flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3. Since Qualcomm is a fabless company, it mainly relies on Samsung and TSMC for its advanced mobile chip production. Noted Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station (via @Jukanlosreve) claims that the American chipmaker will use TSMC’s 2nm process for its 2026 flagship chipset.

The tipster further said the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 will have two versions, similar to Apple’s standard and pro A mobile chips. Unfortunately, TSMC will likely manufacture both models, leaving Samsung Foundry out of the picture once again. Despite being the second-largest foundry player, Samsung has failed to crack a deal with Qualcomm in recent years. Their last collaboration was in 2021 for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, built on a 4nm node.

Samsung was the first foundry to start mass production of the 3nm process node using the GAA (Gate-All-Around) architecture. So, industry analysts expected that the Korean firm would manufacture Qualcomm’s 3nm mobile chips. However, it failed to get an order from Qualcomm to manufacture the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the upcoming 8 Elite 2, probably due to poor yield.

The Korean behemoth is now planning to start mass production on its 2nm node with improved yield ahead of TSMC. Despite its efforts, it has failed to regain Qualcomm’s trust. Once again, TSMC secured the entire order for the 2026 Snapdragon 8 Elite lineup.

Meanwhile, an earlier report suggested that Samsung will produce a special version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 using its 2nm process exclusively for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 in 2026 (the standard Elite 2 is manufactured by TSMC on its 3nm node). If successful, Samsung Foundry could regain trust with other major clients while also earning some revenue from orders.