Samsung is upgrading its manufacturing facilities, and will start churning out chips in Q4 using an upgraded 10nm process
Samsung is now ready to produce faster and even more power-efficient chips than the ones it uses the latest Galaxy S8 smartphones.
In the fourth quarter, Samsung will start producing chips on the 10-nanometer LPP (low-power plus) process. These chips are faster than existing chips because of an enhanced 3D structure.
On average, the new chips made on the new process will be 10 percent faster and 15 percent more power efficient than the first wave of 10-nanometer chips like the Samsung Exynos 8895, which is one of two processors used in the S8 devices.
Samsung’s announcement is a sign that it has received orders to make chips, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.
Samsung hasn’t announced customers for the new chips. But one client could be Qualcomm, which has its Snapdragon 835 chips in the Galaxy S8. They are made in Samsung’s existing 10nm fabs.
