Memory and 2nm Cost Surge Hits Qualcomm, MediaTek

As the semiconductor industry moves into the 2nm node, Qualcomm and MediaTek are gearing up for their next-generation flagship mobile platforms—Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600. But beyond the premium wafer pricing at TSMC, both companies now face another challenge: the rapid surge in LPDDR6 DRAM costs.

Market reports indicate that LPDDR6 prices continue to accelerate, making the new memory standard initially viable only for true flagship-class chips. Early expectations suggest that only the Pro-tier versions of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600 will adopt LPDDR6 in 2026. While the technology promises clear gains in bandwidth and efficiency, the high cost will likely slow its rollout across mainstream devices. This dual pressure—advanced node pricing and rising DRAM costs—is expected to affect the entire flagship smartphone ecosystem.

There are, however, emerging signals that Chinese memory manufacturers aim to begin mass production of LPDDR6 in 2026. If confirmed, this development may give Qualcomm and MediaTek more leverage in memory procurement and potentially create new pricing flexibility.

To navigate shifting demand and rising costs, Qualcomm is reportedly planning a differentiated product strategy for its next flagship generation: a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a high-performance Pro model. The Pro variant is expected to feature a faster GPU and support for higher-speed LPDDR6.

Samsung's newly revealed LPDDR6 memory adopts a 12nm process with speeds up to 10.7Gbps and an expanded I/O channel architecture. Thanks to dynamic power-management features, energy efficiency improves by about 21%, marking a substantial leap from current LPDDR5X solutions.

Even so, the DRAM market is expected to see elevated pricing throughout next year, regardless of LPDDR6 adoption. Combined with the estimated US$30,000 per wafer cost of TSMC's 2nm production, next-generation flagship SoCs will likely carry higher overall manufacturing costs.

Despite these pressures, Qualcomm and MediaTek continue to pursue every edge in performance. Industry chatter suggests both firms will adopt TSMC's refined 2nm “N2P” process, which offers roughly 5% performance improvement over the baseline N2 node. By contrast, Apple is expected to stay with the standard N2 process for its A20 and A20 Pro chips. While this gives Qualcomm and MediaTek a potential performance advantage, it may also drive chip pricing even higher.

For device makers, the challenging reality is that rising memory and SoC costs will push up the bill of materials for 2026 flagship models. Higher retail pricing risks dampening consumer demand, but absorbing the cost increase would compress margins for both chip vendors and smartphone brands. Striking the right balance between performance, pricing, and profitability will be the key challenge in the 2nm and LPDDR6 era.