Samsung-Qualcomm 2nm talks reportedly stall over price

Illustrative processor photo by Sergei Starostin / Pexels. It does not depict Samsung's 2nm process.

Qualcomm and Samsung may have narrowed the technical gap without closing the deal. South Korea's The Bell reports that negotiations for Samsung to make Qualcomm's 2nm application processors are dragging on over price, putting production this year in doubt. That is a report about private talks, not an announcement from either chipmaker.

The report, summarised by TrendForce, TweakTown and Wccftech, says Qualcomm is broadly satisfied with Samsung's 2nm process and wants a lower price. Samsung is reluctant to cut it, partly because the volume under discussion is relatively small. TrendForce says production before the end of 2026 is increasingly uncertain. Because chip production has to line up with phone launch schedules, the talks could end up covering a later Qualcomm processor rather than the one currently under negotiation.

Yield is the share of chips on a wafer that actually work. It is also where the reporting disagrees most.

TrendForce cites Maeil Business Newspaper as saying Samsung's 2nm GAA yield has passed 70%, up from under 50% at the start of 2026. TweakTown cites Business Korea with the same figure. A BigGo Finance report from September 13 gives a lower number, putting industry estimates for Samsung's SF2 and SF2P nodes at 50 to 60%, up from the 20% range in the second half of last year. It adds that TrendForce's April figures had Samsung at about 55% and TSMC at 60 to 70%. It also says Qualcomm reportedly wants yields of around 70% before it commits to high-volume manufacturing.

The figures may come from different months, different nodes or different chip designs, and none of the companies has published its own numbers. The 70% claims support the idea that price is the main obstacle. The April 55% estimate cannot establish Samsung's September performance. Wccftech acknowledges this uncertainty and says Samsung's yields could still be the reason a deal hasn't happened.

Samsung once took low-priced orders to win customers. Its position has changed since then. TrendForce cites Reuters reporting that Samsung raised 4nm SF4 prices by 10 to 15% in July for customers in China and the US, and by 5 to 10% for Taiwanese customers. It also raised 5nm SF5 prices by 10 to 15% and 8nm prices by nearly 10%. Korea's Munhwa Ilbo reports that the first Samsung fab in Taylor, Texas, is already fully booked for 2nm before it starts operating, with orders tied to Tesla's AI5 and AI6 chips, Broadcom communications chips and Arm AI chips for smart devices. Samsung's July 25 announcement describes a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom covering both memory and foundry technologies. The companies put its expected value above $200 billion through 2030; that is not a disclosed $200 billion foundry order.

Those commitments help explain Samsung's firmer negotiating position, though the value of a broad collaboration does not tell us how much 2nm capacity a customer has booked.

Qualcomm still needs options. BigGo reports that TSMC is aiming for 60,000 2nm wafers a month by the fourth quarter and that Apple has reportedly secured more than half of the initial allocation for iPhone 18 and M6 chips. Wccftech reports that TSMC has already accepted Qualcomm's initial order, which could leave Samsung as a backup. It also suggests that Qualcomm's smaller 2nm volumes may reflect phone makers cutting back as memory costs rise.

If nothing changes, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 family would come from TSMC, as the last several Snapdragon generations have. The larger risk is timing. TweakTown suggests that if Qualcomm's 2nm chips slip, phone makers such as Xiaomi and Vivo could look to MediaTek, or Qualcomm could stay entirely with TSMC. That is analysis, not a reported decision.

Samsung's own phones are less exposed to the dispute. TrendForce cites Money Today as reporting that the Exynos 2700 will use the second-generation SF2P process and appear more widely across the Galaxy S27 lineup.

Qualcomm lists its Snapdragon Summit for September 22 to 24. Reports expect the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a higher-end Pro model there, but the product names and foundry allocation remain unconfirmed. An explicit manufacturing announcement would clarify the talks. Silence would not prove that a pricing dispute is still unresolved.

Sources: TrendForce · Wccftech · BigGo Finance · TweakTown · The Bell · Maeil Business Newspaper · Samsung · MoneyToday · Qualcomm