What's happened? According to Joseon MediaSamsung has officially reorganized part of its semiconductor division and formed a dedicated team to develop custom SoCs. This marks a move away from simply licensing standard ARM CPU cores. Instead, Samsung is now investing in creating its own chip architecture, spanning CPU cores, artificial intelligence and neural network blocks, and system-on-chip (SoC) design. The move is meant to put Samsung in line with companies like Apple and Qualcomm, which have long promoted custom chip strategies.
- The new team is part of Samsung's System LSI division and will be led by SoC veteran Park Bong-il.
- Until now, Samsung has used standard ARM processor cores for its processors. Exynos chips. The custom SoC initiative could change that by allowing Samsung to design CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and other units in-house.
- The plan isn't just about internal devices: Samsung could offer its own chips to external customers as well, turning itself into a full-fledged chip design agency.
- Samsung already has foundry capabilities, including advanced manufacturing processes, giving it a chance to compete with the largest chipmakers.
Why is this important: If it works, Samsung's next phones could seem more advanced, efficient, and uniquely optimized than anything that's come before. Custom chips mean Samsung can tweak performance, heat, battery, camera, AI and pretty much everything for its own hardware and software, rather than having to play catch-up. It could also shake up the mobile chip market.
Moreover, with Samsung playing as a chipmaker and foundry, the dominance of just a few chip suppliers may weaken. This could lead to more innovation, better optimization, and perhaps even more price competition. For users, this could finally bridge the gap between Android devices and those silicon phones that offer smooth performance, longer battery life and tighter integration.
Why should I care? Finally, it could mean buying a Samsung phone that feels truly “made by Samsung” from the inside out. The custom chips allow Samsung to customize its devices in specific ways, which can lead to smoother performance, improved efficiency, and fewer compromises between regions where Snapdragon and Exynos previously felt uneven. Simply put, future Samsung phones may stop feeling like customized Android devices and start feeling like tightly integrated machines built around their own processor. It looks a lot like Apple users are already enjoying.
Okay, so what next? For now, this is a behind-the-scenes move and not something you'll see on store shelves tomorrow. The real clues will emerge in leaks, tests and launches over the next one to two years. If you're planning on upgrading soon, you probably won't feel the effects yet, but if you're the type who upgrades every couple of years, it's absolutely worth keeping track of.
