Qualcomm reportedly hopes Samsung Electronics and Globalfoundries can form an alliance, as the fabless IC vendor seeks to reduce its reliance on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for its advanced chips, according to industry sources.

　　Qualcomm's advanced mobile processors are being mostly built by TSMC, which implies that Qualcomm's product development roadmap depends upon the foundry partner and its ability to ramp up advanced processes.

　　TSMC counts Qualcomm among its major customers. TSMC reportedly suffered yield issues with its 28nm process in early 2012, once driving Qualcomm toward other foundries as a second source. But the foundry later in the year was able to ramp up production of the chips at a fast pace.

　　TSMC was also in danger of losing a significant portion of 28nm chip orders from Qualcomm earlier in 2013, due to rivals' capability of ramping up production of 28nm chips and willingness to offer more attractive prices, according to previous reports. Nonetheless, TSMC still manages to secure the majority of Qualcomm's 28nm chip orders thus far in 2013.

　　Samsung's reported alliance with Globalfoundries first appeared in a report by tech website All Things Digital, which suggested Globalfoundries would fabricate Apple's future applications processors on a sub-contract basis for Samsung, and Samsung would remain the primary manufacturer of Apple's chips for the iPhone and iPad.

　　On the heels of the speculation, rumors have also circulated in the IC industry that Samsung would help Globalfoundries become Apple's partner for the A9 chip manufacturing by providing related patents.