The Snapdragon processor is made in China, which will enhance the maturity and production capacity of SMIC's 28nm process. Since SMIC teamed up with Qualcomm, which will make SMIC the first OEM firm in China offer 28 nanocrystalline silicon.

Source said that SMIC and Qualcomm posed a threat to TSMC and UMC, especially for UMC because they have just received orders from Qualcomm. It seems that the war of 28nm has broke out.

Elizabeth Sun, Director of TSMC's Corporate Communication Division, said that TSMC is confident in 28nm process and advanced process technology, TSMC will by all means to protect their intellectual property rights. She emphasized that TSMC is still a leader in 28nm process technology, outshined all the other wafer OEMs around the world.

UMC is being considered have received 28nm orders from Qualcomm, Broadcom, and MediaTek. Souce said taht as competitors of TSMC stepped into 28nm process one after another, it won't affect TSMC right away but the price of 28nm is going to be a tug of war.

“Having Qualcomm to be our partner, we believe that 28nm will be our major growth driver,” said Qiu Ci-yun, CEO of SMIC, “We supported Qualcomm in power management, wireless, and connected IC, and will roll out new 28nm products soon.”