It’s all about the release of the SoC

At all kinds of summits, like the SnapDragon Technology Summit, there are a lot of interesting details that come up after the technician – when journalists ask questions that are logical to themselves but are not always easy for the speaker. So this time, the Snapdragon Technology Summit 2019 Q&A session was quite exciting.

The basic question was that everyone is interested in this: Why not have Snapdragon 865 built-in 5G modem? And we’ve already answered that. But another question – why is the Snapdragon 865 tailored to the old process technology (not even using a EUV), instead of being a 5-nanometer pioneer? In fact, the TSMC5 nanometer process technology has already mastered it.

As it turns out, the point there is the volume of output. Qualcomm wants to sell its single-chip system to millions, and such volume can be ensured only through a technical process that has been debugged for years – 7 nanometers. As for the use of EUV lithography, here, in the words of the official speaker of Qualcomm, “For the end-user, the finished product is not much different.”

But in fact, here again, the outlook depends on the amount of output: the use of EUV lithography will reduce those who do not want a Qualcomm. The company indeed. It is noted that the transition to EUV and 5-nanometer process technology will happen sometime, but not anymore.

Another issue concerns the selection of production sites for Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765/765G. The first one, as you know, was developed by TSMC, and the other two are built-in Samsung facilities. Representatives for Qualcomm said that this was done to ensure maximum production and uninterrupted supply.

However, this answer also excluded the phrase “trade considerations.” It has not been officially confirmed, but according to rumors, “diversity” is largely due to the fact that Samsung made a commercial offer that Kollam could not refuse.

Generally, it does not matter what the problem is, judging by the answers, Qualcomm is interested in none other than the maximum production of its committees. And this is understandable, given that the company’s top platforms have been disrupted in the past, especially in the first months of the release of smartphones based on them.

I’m just not happy that we have to pay for the stability of the supply with the dearth of advanced technologies: neither the 7-nanometer process technology using EUV lithography, nor the integrated Snapdragon 865. 5G modem has come out.

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