Tipster explains why Samsung Foundry, not TSMC, will build next year's Tensor G4 SoC

The Tensor G4 chipset will power next year's Pixel 9 series. According to tipster Revegnus (@Tech_Reve), the component will be manufactured by Samsung Foundry, not TSMC as originally rumored. Revegnus says that TSMC was offered the job by Google but refused it because the job was too low volume for the world's largest foundry. So Samsung Foundry, like it did for the first three Google Tensor SoCs, will be building the Tensor G4.

According to Revegnus, the Tensor G4 will feature a Cortex-X4 prime core, Cortex-A715 performance CPU cores, Cortex-A520 efficiency CPU cores, and Arm's Immortalis-G715 GPU. The tipster says that he does not yet know what the actual configuration will be. He did say that it will be built on Samsung Foundry's 4LPP+ process node (which is the same process node to be used for the Exynos 2400) and is a slight improvement from the 4LPP node that is being used for the Tensor G3.

TSMC is still expected to build the Tensor G5 chip which will be the first chipset for the Pixel line that will be fully customized by Google. Currently, Google "partially customizes" the Tensor chips which are based on Samsung's Exynos SoCs. TSMC is expected to use a 3nm node to build the Tensor G5 which will debut with the Pixel 10 series in 2025.

While some might say that Google's use of Samsung Foundry for the Tensor G4 indicates that the company trusts that Samsung has cleaned up previous yield issues and can manufacture chips that won't overheat, the truth is that once it was turned down by TSMC, where else could Google turn to? Intel could be a possibility as it ramps up its contract foundry business, but it just started to mass-produce chips using its 4nm node (although we should note that Intel's 4nm chips have a transistor density that tops Samsung's at 4nm).

Nonetheless, Revegnus says that it will be Samsung Foundry churning out the Tensor G4 application processor (AP) next year followed by the TSMC-built Tensor G5 in 2025. We will have to wait until then to see if he was right.