Companies like Qualcomm and Samsung, in contrast, operate on very different timetables. When Samsung ramps a process node, it typically enters volume production on DRAM or NAND first, followed by logic at a later date. Getting a Qualcomm or Apple SoC ready for volume production is just the first step. Once validated, chips still have to be shipped to various network operators for validation on their own networks. It can take anywhere from 5-9 months for carriers to perform their own validation or device customization work. This is why Samsung can say it’ll be in 10nm volume production by the end of 2016, yet we may not see devices based on 10nm hardware until Q2 2017. GPUs do tend to be a bit faster — typically AMD and Nvidia have launched hardware 1-3 months after TSMC announces volume production at a given node.
