AMD appears to be eyeing Samsung’s foundry outfit for next-generation 2nm CPUs as TSMC’s capacity squeeze gets uglier.
In line with rumours that have been swirling for a while, AMD may have settled on Samsung’s chip fabrication arm for its Venice and Verano CPUs.
The latest speculative murmur comes from Daishin Securities, which reckons Samsung has likely won an order for 2nm notebook CPUs. Prolific tipster Jukan cited Daishin Securities, which only referred to a “North American fabless customer,” before adding that “it looks like AMD.”
Such a move will not shock anyone watching the foundry bunfight. AMD was reportedly in active talks with Samsung about a possible order last week.
AMD chief executive Lisa Su visited Samsung’s Pyeongtaek foundry plant recently to inspect its capabilities in person.
With TSMC’s advanced node capacity choked until 2028, Samsung looks like AMD’s next best option for making Venice and Verano in useful volumes. AMD needs enough chips before the planned launch windows.
There is a chance that AMD is seeking preferential access to Samsung’s precious DRAM as part of the arrangement. That would make sense, given AI outfits are locking up memory supply and leaving everyone else scrabbling under the back of the sofa for more.
AMD’s Venice, expected in 2026, reportedly carries up to 256 “Zen 6C” cores. Those cores are organised across eight core complex dies, with each die carrying 32 cores.
Verano is expected to be a Venice variant designed for agentic AI workloads, including inferencing. It is likely to launch in 2027 and serve as the host CPU for AMD’s Instinct MI500-series GPUs.
Verano is expected to use the advanced Zen 7 architecture, assuming the road map gremlins stay in their box. There is still uncertainty about whether AMD sees Samsung as a backup or as a production partner alongside TSMC.
If Samsung is just a backstop, volumes will probably be muted. If it is a concurrent partner, AMD could split production of Venice and Verano between TSMC and Samsung. Much depends on the yields Samsung can squeeze from its 2nm gate-all-around process.
