SMIC makes Snapdragon 410 processor in 28nm process

Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and SMIC have reached a major milestone in fabrication of 28nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processors six months after the two companies announced their initial plans to collaborate on 28nm wafer production.

Snapdragon 410 is a processor designed to enable a new class of smartphones and tablets at the high-volume tier through offering integrated LTE, high-performance graphics and imaging, 1080P HD display, 64bit capable processing and a range of advanced modem features. This milestone represents an important step for SMIC in their 28nm process maturity as they become one of the first Chinese foundries to produce high-performance, low-power mobile processors at one of the industry's most advanced process nodes.

This achievement builds on a longstanding wafer supply relationship between SMIC and Qualcomm Technologies that was recently extended in July to collaborate at the 28nm process node.

"The successful yield of 28nm process technology on high-performance, low-power Snapdragon mobile processors represents a major milestone for SMIC in increasing our competitiveness in the global foundry landscape," said Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, chief executive officer and executive director, SMIC.