Qualcomm Strengthens Samsung Chip Partnership

According to South Korean media, Qualcomm's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile, Chris Patrick, stated that the company continues to collaborate with multiple global wafer foundries to achieve the optimal balance of performance, cost, and production capacity. He highlighted Samsung as a long-standing and strong partner of Qualcomm, noting significant achievements in innovation and product development, and expressed expectations to maintain close collaboration in the future.

Analysts suggest that Patrick's remarks indicate Qualcomm may be seeking supply chain diversification through Samsung's foundry, reducing reliance on TSMC. The Korea Economic Daily reported that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed at CES 2026 that discussions with Samsung for 2nm process production have already begun, with chip design completed and commercial mass production expected soon. The target chip for this collaboration is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5.

From Snapdragon 8 Gen2 through Gen5, TSMC has handled all production, securing these orders exclusively for four consecutive years. While Samsung was not successful in the 3nm competition, rising TSMC 2nm quotes have sparked expectations that Samsung could secure more orders in the near future.

When asked about the depth of collaboration with Samsung, Patrick explained that it takes roughly three years from concept to final platform completion. The two companies operate as a "single team," jointly planning platforms for launch three years ahead.

Qualcomm and Samsung's partnership spans 30 years, with one of the earliest examples being the integration of Qualcomm CDMA chips in the Anycall SCH-100 model in 1996. Today, Qualcomm credits Samsung Galaxy's success to their long-term, close collaboration.

Currently, the partnership extends beyond Galaxy smartphone SoCs to areas including displays, camera modules, communications, and AI technologies. Notable collaborations include Galaxy devices' 100x zoom camera features and on-device AI translation. The two companies have also entered the AI PC space, launching multiple Snapdragon X series-powered devices, such as the Galaxy Book4 Edge, with the latest Snapdragon X2 series expected to appear in Samsung notebooks.

In wearable technology, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Wear Elite at MWC 2026, slated for Samsung's next-generation Galaxy Watch. It is the first wearable-focused chip with an integrated neural processing unit (NPU), capable of executing AI models with up to one billion parameters directly on-device without cloud connection.