Qualcomm may follow up its 7nm modem with a 7nm chipset: the Snapdragon 855

Qualcomm unveiled its first 7nm chips yesterday. But there’s more to the story – Qualcomm contractors may be gearing up to build the Snapdragon 855 on a 7nm process as well.

Qualcomm won't say it, but their contractors do. Snapdragon 855 (SDM855) is the first 7nm SoC. (probably the one the X24 modem ends up in) pic.twitter.com/Ot1J34fQoG

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) February 15, 2018

The upcoming 845 chip is being built on a 10nm Low Power Plus process, an incremental upgrade over the 10nm Low Power Early process used in the 835. Samsung (which is fabbing the chips) claims 10% higher performance or 15% power reduction.

Early Snapdragon 855 rumors pointed to TSMC as fab that will build the 2019 chips. However, Qualcomm didn’t say who is building the X24 modem – likely the same fab that will make the 855.

If it is TSMC (which is looking like the more probable version right now), it claims up to 40% power reduction or 37% or more increase in performance over their 10nm process, a pretty significant jump.

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