Qualcomm to Use 7-nanometer Chips

Qualcomm's future Snapdragon 5G mobile chipsets

will be made using Samsung Electronics' 7-nanometer

process, the companies announced.

The South Korean tech giant first showed off the 7-

nanometer LPP EUV process in May last year. Samsung

said in July that it will surpass rival TSMC when 7-

nanometer is rolled out in 2018.

Scaling down chip sizes allows a slimmer design

and more usable space for manufacturers. They

also consume less power and process faster.

Compared to the 10-nanometer FinFET process

that is currently widely commercialised, the 7-

nanometer will allow up to a 40 percent boost in

area efficiency, 10 percent higher performance,

and 35 percent less power consumption, Samsung

said.

In October, the South Korean tech giant developed

an 8-nanometer process, considered a stop-gap

between 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer, stressing

that it was continuing to cooperate with Qualcomm.