Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Price Surge, Gen 5 Dual Sourcing

Recent reports indicate that Qualcomm's upcoming SM8750 chipset, expected to enter production in the first half of 2024, will command a premium pricing of $190-200 per unit. This represents a 25%-30% increase over its predecessor, the SM8650, due to its adoption of TSMC's advanced N3E process technology.

TSMC's N3E process, the second-generation 3-nanometer technology, promises significant improvements over the previous 5-nanometer (N5) process. It offers a 34% reduction in power consumption while delivering an 18% boost in performance and increasing logic transistor density by 60%.

Major tech giants, including Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD, in addition to Qualcomm, have already secured capacity for TSMC's N3E process, with production capacity booked through 2026. The cost per wafer for the 3nm process is estimated to be approximately 25% higher than that of the 5nm process.

Despite the price increase, Qualcomm anticipates strong demand for its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset, driven by growing interest in high-performance smartphones leveraging AI technologies.

In parallel developments, Qualcomm is gearing up to ship approximately 2 million units of its Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors for AI PCs in 2024. These products are slated for significant volume increases in 2025.

Looking further ahead, Qualcomm plans to introduce a cost-effective AI PC processor codenamed Canim in late 2025. Manufactured using TSMC's N4 process, Canim will offer comparable AI capabilities (40 TOPS) to its high-end counterparts.

Qualcomm is also exploring a dual-foundry strategy for its Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset expected in 2025, potentially involving both TSMC and Samsung. This strategic move aims to mitigate risks associated with single-supplier dependencies, particularly as both manufacturers prepare to launch 2nm process technology in the same timeframe.