According to a new report, Google’s switch from Samsung’s foundry to TSMC for the Tensor G5 chip in the upcoming Pixel 10 series was a “shock” for Samsung, and is serving as a wake-up call for the company’s foundry efforts.
For the past few years, Google has been leveraging Samsung to build custom Tensor chipsets for its Pixel devices. It’s been a fairly rocky road, but despite improvements in recent years, Google has been moving towards a fully custom design produced by TSMC. That effort will make its debut later this year in the Pixel 10 series, as Tensor G5 will be the first Google chip made by TSMC, the same foundry that produces chips for Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Apple.
The change apparently came as a “shock” to Samsung, or so claims a report from The Bell (via @Jukanlosreve).
Samsung is apparently in the midst of an internal inspection to analyze “the case” of Google switching from Samsung’s foundry to TSMC. Referred to as “the Google incident,” the analysis is apparently serving as a bit of a wake-up call for Samsung’s foundry efforts. An industry insider said that “losing Google is a case that shows the complex problems of Samsung Foundry at once” and that “there are many discussions and concerns going on internally as well.”
The report brings out that “Google’s desired performance and functions were diversifying,” with Samsung’s “lack of semiconductor design assets” playing a role in Google’s decision to move to TSMC. Samsung’s ongoing issues with yield with a 3nm process has also been a growing problem.
And Google isn’t alone in moving beyond Samsung. A report from late May further showed that Samsung is struggling to find customers for its chips in general due to TSMC’s much higher yield. Where Samsung’s yield is apparently around 50% for its 3nm process, TSMC is said to be at 90%.
While Google won’t be using Samsung for its Tensor chipset, the Pixel 10 is still expected to use a Samsung modem, per recent leaks.
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