Samsung to manufacture Qualcomm chips for 5G smartphones: sources

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. has reportedly secured an order to manufacture Qualcomm Technologies Inc.'s mobile application processor (AP) for 5G budget smartphones, industry sources said Tuesday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes boosting its presence in the foundry industry.

Samsung is likely to be a producer of the 5G version of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 4-series processors that are expected to be available on the market next year, according to the sources.

Handset makers, like Xiaomi, Oppo and Motorola, have reportedly decided to use Qualcomm's new chipset for their products.

Samsung has been getting foundry deals from major companies recently.

Last month, the company said it will manufacture IBM Corp.'s POWER 10 chip. Earlier this month, industry sources said Samsung will fabricate Nvidia Corp.'s new RTX 3000 series graphics processing units.

Samsung, the world's largest memory chip producer, trails far behind TSMC in the foundry market. According to market researcher TrendForce, Samsung is estimated to have a 17.4 percent market share in the global foundry industry in the third quarter of the year, while TSMC is expected to continue its dominance with a 53.9 percent market share.

Samsung has vowed to invest 133 trillion won (US$112 billion) to become the world's No. 1 logic chipmaker by 2030 and bolster its competitiveness in the system LSI and foundry businesses.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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