Samsung’s chip-manufacturing business isn’t doing great, and poor yield is partially to blame. Even the Galaxy S25 series switched entirely to Snapdragon this year. Though the Exynos will return to the S26 series if the rumors are correct.
The issues with Samsung’s LSI (the chip design arm) run so deep that reports suggest a merger between Samsung LSI and another division, most likely Foundry. The initial rumors suggest that Samsung is planning to merge Samsung MX (Mobile Experience) and LSI, but the latest development is pointing to a Foundry-LSI merger instead.
A South Korean news outlet says that during an internal meeting at the company, three possible scenarios were discussed – merge LSI into MX, merge LSI into Foundry or massively restructure LSI. According to people familiar with the matter, a merger with Foundry was favored, but no final decision has been made.
It’s interesting to note that LSI and Foundry were once under the Samsung DS (Device Solutions) division, but they were separated back in 2017 to reduce the chances of conflict of interest with other Samsung Foundry clients like Nvidia and Qualcomm.