During a recent earnings call, Samsung revealed exciting plans for the second half of 2025: the company will expand mass production of a new mobile SoC using the advanced 2nm GAA process. While specific details were scarce, the announcement hinted at a major development in the flagship smartphone sector—the Exynos 2600. This new chipset is expected to bring improved Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capabilities compared to its predecessors.
Although Samsung has not yet disclosed information about the compute or GPU performance of the Exynos 2600, the focus appears to be on optimizing the 2nm GAA chipset before sharing additional specifics. The testing phase began in June, with early reports indicating that Samsung’s 2nm GAA yields were around 30 percent. While not ideal for mass production, this marks significant progress over past challenges with its 3nm technology. The company aims to increase these yields to 70 percent by the year’s end, potentially attracting more industry giants like Qualcomm.
Samsung has already landed a significant $16.5 billion contract with Tesla to produce chips using this cutting-edge lithography, highlighting the company’s strategic direction. Analyst Bryan Ma shared during a Q&A session that the Exynos 2600 will be Samsung’s inaugural 2nm GAA chipset, primarily enhancing NPU performance with improved on-device AI functionality.
Recent Geekbench 6 sightings of the Exynos 2600, showcasing a 10-core CPU cluster, indicate rigorous testing and preparation for launch. The absence of raw performance comparisons suggests ongoing optimizations, including Samsung’s implementation of “Heat Pass Block” technology for efficient heat dissipation and “Fan-out Wafer Level Packaging” (FOWLP) for better heat resistance and enhanced multi-core performance. Ensuring these elements align is crucial for Samsung to seize this opportunity and avoid previous pitfalls.
