Samsung's semiconductor foundry in Hwaseong. [Courtesy of Samsung]
SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Aju News) -- Qualcomm, a global wireless technology company, will use Samsung Electronics' ultra-thin chip making process to create 5G next-generation processors for smart devices.
Qualcomm Technologies is the maker of processor chips widely used in Android smartphones. Its Snapdragon X50 5G modem is being used by many wireless network operators including AT&T, KT, LG UPLUS and SK Telecom in the live test of fifth-generation mobile networks.
Samsung said in a post uploaded onto its news blog Thursday that Qualcomm will use Samsung's seven-nanometer (nm) LPP (Low Power Plus) EUV (extreme ultraviolet) process to manufacture Snapdragon 5G mobile processors.
Because the 5G network is about 10 times faster than the current 4G LTE (the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution) mobile network, smart devices connected to the new ultra-fast network require chips capable of processing data fast and consuming less power.
Samsung's 7nm processor is about 10 percent higher in performance than its 10nm chip and can save up to 40 percent of space. The processor is more power efficient and ideal for next-generation chips.
The EUV process, also known as the EUV lithography process, is a technology using extreme ultraviolet light wavelengths to expose an ultra-thin electrical circuit. Samsung introduced the 7nm LPP EUV process technology in May last year as a successor to its 10nm FinFET process, a different manufacturing process for integrated chipsets.
As Qualcomm's next-gen processors are to be manufactured in Samsung's semiconductor foundry in Hwaseong, some 42 kilometers (26 miles) south of Seoul, the South Korean tech giant's upcoming smartphones are very likely to be fitted with the new 7nm chipset.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
