Samsung's System LSI division has encountered challenges in mass-producing its self-developed Exynos flagship chip for commercial use, owing to low yield rates in advanced manufacturing processes.

In response to this critical issue, Samsung is contemplating outsourcing the production of its Exynos processors.

Globally, the contract manufacturing capabilities for advanced processes are limited to TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. Consequently, Samsung's viable option effectively narrows down to TSMC.

However, recent developments reveal that TSMC has turned down Samsung's request to manufacture Exynos processors, citing concerns over potential business secret leakage.

This decision by TSMC undoubtedly exacerbates Samsung's predicament.

It is reported that TSMC's process yield rate for the 3nm manufacturing process has surpassed 80%, with the 2nm yield rate reaching 60%. If TSMC were to manufacture Exynos processors, there is a significant risk that Samsung might gain access to TSMC's business secrets, thereby understanding how TSMC achieves such high yield rates in advanced manufacturing processes.