Samsung May Part Ways with AMD: Is the Native Graphics Processor Era Coming to Exynos SoCs?

Samsung may be planning to use its own graphics architecture in Exynos processors starting from 2026. The company, which currently uses Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, has been using AMD graphics licenses on Exynos chips since 2022. However, Roland Quandt according to the claimthe future of this cooperation is uncertain as the current agreement expires.

Quandt claims that Samsung will launch processors with its own GPU architecture after 2026. This will probably happen after the launch of Exynos 2400 (RDNA3) and 2500 (may use RDNA3.5 or RDNA4).

Umm… so there’s S5E9945 right? (Exynos 2400)
And then there’s S5E9955, which follows after that.
Exynos 2400 has an AMD GPU. The follow-up will have AMD GPU, too, it seems.

After that, in 2026, Samsung seems to aim for the release of a next-gen flagship SoC feat it’s own GPU.

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) May 4, 2024

Samsung has not yet announced its plans for the next generation Exynos GPUs. AMD seems pleased with the partnership with Samsung, which enables the expansion of its RDNA architecture into ultra-low power devices. However, other SoC manufacturers such as MediaTek and smartphone manufacturers prefer NVIDIA GPU and AI technologies for automotive SoCs, for example.

Samsung and AMD extended the GPU licensing agreement signed in 2019 in April 2023. It was not specified how long the agreement will last, but the fact that the first agreement expired after 4 years means that the new agreement may have a similar time period. After the agreement ends, Samsung may opt for its own graphics design rather than relying on AMD’s license.