Samsung may have found an unconventional, perhaps misleading, way to beat TSMC to 2nm mass production. Rather than speeding up the development of its 2-nanometer semiconductor fabrication technology, the company plans to rename its 2nd-gen 3nm process 2nm. It will market chips based on the 2nd-gen 3nm process, expected to arrive later this year, as 2nm solutions. The “real” 2nm chips may debut in the second half of 2025.
Samsung to market its next-gen 3nm chips as 2nm
Samsung is the world’s first semiconductor foundry to begin 3nm mass production. It flipped the switch in mid-2022, with TSMC following a few months later. However, the latter went on to secure better yield rates and win major 3nm contracts. It has already produced a 3nm smartphone chip, Apple’s A17 Pro for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Samsung Foundry has yet to win 3nm manufacturing contracts from smartphone companies.
Since TSMC stuck with the older FinFET transistor architecture for its 3nm process, it might have helped the firm achieve better yields quickly. Samsung, on the other hand, upgraded to the more advanced GAA architecture and is struggling with yield. With TSMC surging ahead in the 3nm race, the Korean firm is now adopting a peculiar tactic that makes it look like it has outpaced its arch-rival in the 2nm development work.
According to ZDNet, Samsung has informed its partners and customers that its 2nd-gen 3nm process will be called 2nm from here on. “We have been informed by Samsung Electronics that they will change the 2nd generation 3-nano technology to 2-nano technology,” the publication quotes an official in the fabless semiconductor industry. The official confirmed that Samsung has rewritten 3nm contracts signed last year to reflect this change.
The report adds that Samsung’s recent agreement with the Japanese AI startup PFN (Preferred Networks) for 2nm chips is for 2nd-gen 3nm solutions. In other words, it has yet to secure a 2nm manufacturing contract in the true sense. This is extremely confusing and misleading. It is unclear why Samsung is doing this. More importantly, it remains to be seen what term the company uses to refer to its “real” 2nm chips.
Qualcomm has asked for 2nm samples from the two foundries
Samsung reportedly planned this change last year and is finally executing it. Perhaps reports about the company skipping the 3nm process and directly jumping to 2nm likely stemmed from this. Qualcomm recently requested 2nm samples from Samsung and TSMC. It will be interesting to see whether Samsung sends samples of its 2nd-gen 3nm process or the real 2nm solution. If it goes with the former process, TSMC might have something to say about it.
2024-03-06 15:06:12