Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 upgraded to TSMC 2nm: the cost is soaring

Blogger Digital Chat Station revealed that Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 will fully adopt TSMC’s 2nm process in the second half of next year, and the cost will soar, so the cost of the new flagships at the end of next year will also rise.

He also revealed that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 series product line will undergo major changes next year. Qualcomm will launch two versions, tentatively named Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 and Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 Pro, with a positioning similar to Apple’s A/A Pro.

Both chips are manufactured based on the 2nm process. Due to the high cost, next year’s flagship products will not only increase in price, but may not be able to come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 Pro as standard. Mobile phone manufacturers may use the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 on the standard version and the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 Pro on the Pro version.

According to previous assessments, TSMC’s initial pricing for each 2nm wafer will reach US$30,000, and the plant’s capacity utilization is expected to reach saturation in the short term as TSMC is competing for orders from major US technology companies such as Nvidia, Apple, Qualcomm, AMD and Broadcom.

In October last year, domestic brands collectively raised prices because Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chips adopted TSMC’s 3nm process.

At that time, REDMI General Manager Wang Teng explained that there were two reasons for the price increase of flagship phones. First, the flagship processor was upgraded to the latest 3nm process, and the process cost increased significantly. Second, after a year of continuous price increases in memory and storage, the prices had reached the highest point, so the version with large memory had a greater increase.

Looking ahead to next year, chips such as Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 and Dimensity 9600 will be upgraded to TSMC’s new 2nm process, and costs will rise again, which will lead to a new round of price increases for terminal flagships.