Samsung hurt TSMC with Nintendo Switch 2 SoC contract: AMD, Sony now consider Samsung Foundry

Nintendo's new Switch 2 gaming handheld has an NVIDIA T239 SoC inside, fabbed by Samsung on its 8N process node, and now rumor has it both Sony and AMD are eyeing off Samsung to have custom chips made for them in the coming years, signaling a possible shift away from TSMC (pretty much making all high-end chips).

NVIDIA made the semi-custom T239 processor for the Nintendo Switch 2 which the Japanese company handed Samsung with the chip-making side of T239, and not using TMSC like other tech giants do (PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X/S consoles all have semi-custom chips inside designed with AMD, fabbed at TSMC).

The deal between Nintendo, NVIDIA, and Samsung Foundry is a rather big one for Samsung Foundry, with insider @Jukenlosreve reporting from a DigiTimes article that both Sony and AMD are now interested in working with Samsung Foundry to make new chips for them, which could be a small (for now) but (later on a) major shift away from TSMC.

Sony is currently preparing its next-generation PlayStation 6 console as well as a purported PS6 gaming handheld, something that would compete in the handheld market against the Nintendo Switch 2, with the low-power SoC inside of the PS6 gaming handheld codenamed "Jupiter" which you can read more here.

Sony and AMD are hard at work on making a next-gen PlayStation 6 handheld on Samsung's new 2nm process node, with DigiTimes reporting that new clients like Sony and AMD could join the semiconductor roster at Samsung Foundry. Samsung Foundry seems to be doing well with its 8N process node against TSMC, and the South Korean giant reportedly has higher production capacity (TSMC is busy, busy, busy, making chips for most major tech giants).

In fact, the production capacity is one of the major reasons Nintendo chose Samsung Foundry to make its Switch 2 SoC, as Samsung Foundry has been stockpiling NVIDIA Tegra T239 processors for the Switch 2 for quite some time now. The Switch 2 is expected to (far) exceed 20 million unit sales, which will make Samsung a tidy $1.2 billion in revenue.