Samsung’s 3nm yields reportedly still far behind TSMC

Much has been written about Samsung's struggles with getting its 3nm yields up. Low yields are reportedly why the company's mobile division couldn't get enough Exynos 2500 chips for the Galaxy S25 series, forcing it to go all Snapdragon for this year's flagship series.

While Samsung has made improvements over the past year, a new report suggests that its foundry's 3nm yields are still far behind that of TSMC, the world's leading contract chipmaker.

South Korean media is now reporting that Samsung's 3nm yields currently sit at just 50%, compared to TSMC's solid 90%+ yields on the same process technology. This is made it very difficult for the foundry to secure chipmaking orders.

That's why some of the world's top chip designers have opted to go with TSMC for their 3nm chips. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, which powers the Galaxy S25 series, is made by TSMC. AMD, Apple, NVIDIA, and MediaTek are all said to be TSMC's clients for 3nm chips as well.

Samsung's yields have improved enough for the foundry to supply Exynos 2500 chips that will be used in the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7. Yet, there are no indications that the foundry would win any significant orders from other clients in the near future.

The company has received orders for its legacy 7nm and 8nm processes, most notably from Nintendo for its newest Switch console, but there's concern that the company could face competition in the 5nm and 7nm segments from China's SMIC that has quietly been gaining ground.