Samsung’s 2nm GAA Breakthrough: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Sample Reaches Qualcomm

Samsung may finally be catching up in the semiconductor race, as a new report reveals that a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 sample manufactured on its 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process has been sent to Qualcomm for evaluation.

This comes shortly after Qualcomm officially unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 made on TSMC’s 3nm N3P process. While TSMC has dominated the market for years, Samsung’s latest progress suggests that the balance of power in the chip industry could begin to shift in the near future.

According to a report from New Daily Economy, spotted by industry insider @Jukanlosreve, Samsung’s foundry arm has reached an important milestone. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 sample reportedly passed Samsung’s internal quality standards before being delivered to Qualcomm. Although this does not guarantee full-scale production approval, it marks a promising step forward. Qualcomm’s testing phase will now focus on critical performance metrics – power efficiency, thermal output, transistor yield, and sustained reliability. Only if the sample clears all these hurdles will Qualcomm greenlight trial production, a stage that Samsung had already completed earlier this year with its in-house Exynos 2600 chip.

The road ahead remains long. Industry experts estimate that Qualcomm’s trial evaluation could take anywhere between six months to a year, depending on test outcomes. Should any issues arise – such as lower yield rates or inconsistent performance – Qualcomm could cancel potential production agreements entirely. But if Samsung delivers on all fronts, this could mark the company’s long-awaited comeback in the foundry business. It would also open the door to a dual-sourcing arrangement between TSMC and Samsung, a scenario that hasn’t happened in years. Such a partnership would not only benefit Qualcomm by reducing dependency on a single supplier but also increase competition across the industry, driving innovation and potentially stabilizing chip pricing in the long term.

There’s another layer to this story: cost pressures. Reports indicate that both Qualcomm and MediaTek are paying TSMC roughly 24 percent more for their current-generation chips – the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Dimensity 9500 – compared to their previous SoCs. With TSMC’s upcoming 2nm N2 wafers expected to cost around $30,000 per unit, these prices could skyrocket further, potentially impacting consumer device costs next year. If Samsung can prove that its 2nm GAA process is competitive in yield and performance while maintaining lower production costs, it could secure crucial contracts not just from Qualcomm, but also from other major chip clients seeking alternatives to TSMC’s expensive wafers.

Still, challenges remain. Sources suggest that Samsung’s yield rates for the Exynos 2600 hover around 50 percent – well below the industry ideal of 70 percent. While the company’s GAA technology has been hailed as technically sound, execution issues and inconsistent scheduling have limited its competitiveness. The 2nm GAA sample sent to Qualcomm is, therefore, not just a technical test – it’s a test of Samsung’s ability to deliver reliability at scale.

An unnamed insider summed it up best: if Samsung successfully meets Qualcomm’s standards, the global foundry landscape could transform dramatically. The 2nm era would no longer be defined solely by TSMC’s dominance. Instead, a more dynamic and competitive market could emerge, giving chip designers more flexibility and consumers more affordable products powered by the next generation of mobile processors.

For now, all eyes are on Qualcomm’s lab benches. If testing confirms Samsung’s progress, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 might soon become the first major flagship SoC to be produced under both TSMC’s and Samsung’s 2nm-class technologies – a turning point that could reshape the semiconductor industry’s future trajectory.