Samsung 8LPU+ Gets Floated as the Node for a Future Switch 2 Lite

What happened

Samsung Foundry is scheduled to present 8LPU+, the second generation of its 8LPU platform, at IEDM 2026 on December 14. Nintendo Patents Watch has already pegged it as a possible fit for a Switch 2 Lite, but this is speculation for now: Nintendo has not announced a Switch 2 Lite, and Samsung's material does not mention Nintendo or NVIDIA. The link exists because the Switch 2's NVIDIA T239 SoC is built on Samsung's 8 nm node, so a refined version of that process is an obvious candidate for a cheaper handheld-only model. Samsung's IEDM abstract lists 12% higher performance, 15% lower power, and an 8% area shrink over 8LPU, along with roughly 10% smaller I/O area and lower standby leakage. It is a DUV-only node, and Samsung pitches it at automotive, robotics and edge AI chips. Korea's Electronic Times reports the platform should arrive before year's end, and quoted an industry official who named existing 8 nm customers as likely candidates. These are process-level figures, so they do not directly translate into a future Switch 2 Lite that runs 12% faster or lasts 15% longer per charge, and it is unknown how closely NVIDIA's custom 8N variant maps onto 8LPU+.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: TechPowerUp · 10/27/2026 · View original source