TSMC manufacturing Samsung’s Exynos processors might sound unlikely, but it could soon become a reality. Rumors are gaining momentum about this surprising partnership. The Korean firm may be compelled to collaborate with its main foundry competitor due to shortcomings in its own foundry division.
Samsung plans a multi-foundry strategy with a TSMC partnership
Samsung’s flagship phones next year will not feature Exynos chips. The Galaxy S25 lineup will run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite globally after foundry struggles delayed the Exynos 2500. It hasn’t been able to achieve a healthy yield rate for its second-gen 3nm process. Going ahead, the Korean firm may not rely solely on its foundry, potentially teaming up with TSMC to ensure timely production.
According to the Korean media, talks are already underway. In fact, the two parties have made “significant progress” in their discussions. Samsung aims to adopt a multi-foundry approach for its Exynos chips, with TSMC and its in-house foundry division in contention. However, it’s unclear whether the company will have both foundries manufacture the same chip or assign a particular chip to only one foundry.
If talks go through, the first Exynos processor manufactured by TSMC could be the Exynos 2700 for the Galaxy S27 series. It could enter mass production in late 2026. A Samsung executive recently said that Exynos will adopt 3D packaging in 2027. As such, TSMC could produce the CPU tile, while Samsung could manufacture components like the NPU tile in its own fabs.
This does not bode well for the Korean firm’s foundry division, though. It is already grappling with technical shortcomings. Several firms have switched to TSMC due to its poor 3nm yield rate and performance issues. TSMC winning chip manufacturing orders from its arch-rival only consolidates its dominance in the foundry market. We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out over the next few months.
