Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been roped in to produce Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 mobile platform, Nikkei Asian Review reported. According to the publication, Qualcomm's next-generation mobile processor will be mass produced using TSMC's latest 7nm technology. The switch to TSMC should be seen as a big blow to Samsung, one of the biggest names in the semi conductor business. The report states that Samsung will not able to produce 7nm chipsets in 2018 and perhaps the reason behind TSMC's win over the South Korean major. It notes that the competition is getting tough in the semiconductor business as features like artificial intelligence (AI) will be vital for the success of the mobile processor. Though this is not the first time TSMC has been manufacturing mobile processors for Qualcomm. The Snapdragon 808 and 810 were both made by the Taiwan-based company. Quacomm's latest mobile processor is the Snapdragon 845, which will be manufactured by Samsung using the 10nm process. It is likely to be feature in the company's Galaxy S9 and S9+ flagship smartphones due to release at the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) in 2018. Previously, the South Korean major manufactured the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform. According to Nekkei's sources, TSMC's 7nm process technology will be used to manufacture the successor to Apple's A11 Bionic processor used in the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. The A11 Bionic chipset has been mass produced using TSMC's 10nm process. The Taiwan-based company has been the sole supplier of the iPhone's co-processors since 2016's A10 chip.
