I just had a thought

[Phynaz]

I think Samsung is going to own the CPU market for the next 30 years the way Intel has owned it for the last 30 years.

 

[Cogman]

Why would you think samsung over qualcomm? AFAIK, qualcomm sells to and makes more money off of their consumer CPUs than samsung does. Almost every android phone out there, and especially flagship phones, use a qualcomm CPU.

This, of course, ignores the fact that x86 is still king in a lot of ways. Mobile phones and OSes have eaten into the PC market, but they haven't removed the necessity for it.

 

[Phynaz]

Today Qualcomm does.

Qualcomm is missing two things Samsung has:

The ability to create internal demand for CPUs.
One of the best chip factories in the world to build them.

And GloFo is going to be feeding them for a long time.

 

[dark zero]

Today Qualcomm does.

Qualcomm is missing two things Samsung has:

The ability to create internal demand for CPUs.
One of the best chip factories in the world to build them.

And GloFo is going to be feeding them for a long time.

And if not Samsung buys GloFo and good bye to the arabs who currently owns the company.

Also Samsung is like AMD right now... they are focused on Multi Threading, but has one difference... there are software that uses it.

 

[Cogman]

Today Qualcomm does.

Qualcomm is missing two things Samsung has:

The ability to create internal demand for CPUs.
One of the best chip factories in the world to build them.

And GloFo is going to be feeding them for a long time.

Competitors, though, would be reluctant to buy a Samsung CPU vs Qualcomm. (Assuming samsung puts it up for sale). Samsung can jack up the price, refuse to sell, or only sell them older versions of their CPUs.

While they would have demand for their own products, it would be hard for them get the expansive demand that Intel has because other manufacturers sell their parts.

 

[sm625]

CPU SoCs are going to be much more about visual processing in the future. The vast majority of the work done by an SoC will be related to 3D visual processing. Future smartphones will interface with optical equipment and an array of sensors. So you have to ask.... which company is best positioned for this new paradigm?

 

[Cogman]

CPU SoCs are going to be much more about visual processing in the future. The vast majority of the work done by an SoC will be related to 3D visual processing. Future smartphones will interface with optical equipment and an array of sensors. So you have to ask.... which company is best positioned for this new paradigm?

That is a pretty big assumption. I know virtual headsets are all the rave right now, but so were 3d printers a few years back. I've yet to be convinced that VR is the end all be all future of everything.

What about servers? Those aren't going away any time soon and they have almost no need for 3D visual processing.

 

[lopri]

As others have observed, it does not look like other OEMs are eager to take a chance with Samsung's SOCs for various reasons. Given Qualcomm's mishaps with S810 I would have thought there should be more end-user products with Exynos inside but that did not happen. See how Samsung keep high quality AMOLED panels to themselves and I can understand why OEMs are weary of buying their SOCs.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I think Samsung is going to own the CPU market for the next 30 years the way Intel has owned it for the last 30 years.

Samsung is incredible small in terms of logic manufactoring. So they are going to need a growth in the 10x region at least.

And looking for 2016 Q1 revenue:

 

[cytg111]

Samsung is a cover band is it not? I dont see them taking the lead in a great many things?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Yep. Their semiconductor R&D is also pretty low considering what they span. But when you steal technology you dont need so much 😉