Qualcomm and MediaTek stepping away from TSMC

With stiff competition on the Chinese smartphone-chip market, both MediaTek and Qualcomm are seeking foundry chipmakers which offer cheaper quotes than Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to a report in DigiTimes citing industry sources. At the same time as the companies are looking to lower their costs with suppliers that offer cheaper services than TSMC, they also want to reduce their reliance on the Taiwanese chipmaker, the report continues. Some of the companies that have received some of the shifted orders include; Globalfoundries, Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) and United Microelectronics (UMC), the report concludes.