Qualcomm is widely considered as one of the biggest chipset developer and manufacturer in the world. Recently, the company is rumored to be working on its first chipset that will be manufactured using the 5nm process. A handful of leaked information has pointed out that the company's first 5nm chipset will be the Snapdragon 875, and it will hit the market within the foreseeable future.
Although there are strong hints that Qualcomm will first release the predecessor of the Snapdragon 875, the tech community is already excited for the upcoming release of the new chipset. The Snapdragon 865 will be released first, and it is expected to power a handful of flagship devices next year. The Snapdragon 865 will be produced using Samsung's 7nm EUV process.
The 7nm figure is directly related to the number of transistors that a chipset can contain. The smaller the number, the more transistors can be fitted into a single chipset. The more transistors a chipset has, the more powerful and energy-efficient it is.
Doing the math, if Qualcomm is indeed employing the 5nm process for the upcoming Snapdragon 875, the chipset will have at least 171.3 million transistors per square millimeter. That is a lot of transistors, at such a small space. Considering the size of Qualcomm chipsets, the Snapdragon 875 will have tens of billions of transistors. This means unrivaled compute power and very efficient energy usage.
Rumors have hinted that instead of tapping Samsung's EUV process, Qualcomm is employing the process of its old partner, TSMC. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is considered as the world's largest semiconductor foundry. TSMC is behind some of the world's most powerful processors and has provided manufacturing services to a number of tech giants.
Not much is known about the Snapdragon 875. However, based on its manufacturing process alone, many analysts have agreed that it will be one of the most powerful chipsets to be released during its time.
Qualcomm chipsets are at the heart of some of the most popular smartphones in the world. The company has provided chipsets to some of the world's top smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, Apple, Google, and Huawei.
As for its official release date, the tech community might have to wait quite a bit longer for the Snapdragon 875. Qualcomm is slated to release the Snapdragon 865 first, before the Snapdragon 875. Considering the company's timeline, it will not be until 2021 that the tech community can finally lay their eyes into this powerful chipset.
