Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm Expand Foundry Cooperation on EUV Process Technology

Qualcomm anticipates that its future Snapdragon 5G mobile chipsets will use Samsung’s 7nm LPP EUV process technology

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced the intention to expand their decade-long foundry relationship into EUV (extreme ultra violet) lithography process technology, including the manufacture of future Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 5G mobile chipsets using Samsung’s 7-nanometer (nm) LPP (Low Power Plus) EUV process technology.

Using 7LPP EUV process technology, Snapdragon 5G mobile chipsets will offer a smaller chip footprint, giving OEMs more usable space inside upcoming products to support larger batteries or slimmer designs. Process improvements, combined with a more advanced chip design, are expected to bring significant improvements in battery life.

Last May, Samsung introduced 7LPP EUV, its first semiconductor process technology to use an EUV lithography solution. It is anticipated that EUV lithography deployment will break the barriers of Moore’s law scaling, paving the way for single nanometer semiconductor technology generations.

Compared with its 10nm FinFET predecessors, Samsung’s 7LPP EUV technology not only greatly reduces the process complexity with fewer process steps and better yield, but also allows up to a 40 percent increase in area efficiency with 10 percent higher performance or up to 35 percent lower power consumption.

“We are excited to lead the 5G mobile industry together with Samsung,” said RK Chunduru, senior vice president, supply chain and procurement, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Using 7nm LPP EUV, our new generation of Snapdragon 5G mobile chipsets will take advantage of the process improvements and advanced chip design to improve the user experience of future devices.”

“We are pleased to continue to expand our foundry relationship with Qualcomm Technologies in 5G technologies using our EUV process technology,” said Charlie Bae, Executive Vice President of Foundry Sales and Marketing Team at Samsung Electronics. “This collaboration is an important milestone for our foundry business as it signifies confidence in Samsung’s leading process technology.”

Samsung Electronics’ Foundry manufacturing line located in Hwaseong, Korea