Samsung is the world’s greatest maker of reminiscence chips.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Photos
Samsung Electronics on Wednesday laid out its street map to increase its chip manufacturing enterprise, together with modern semiconductors, because it appears to be like to meet up with chief Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Maybe finest identified for its smartphones, the South Korean expertise firm has an enormous semiconductor enterprise that’s its predominant revenue driver. It makes reminiscence chips that go into information facilities and laptops.
However Samsung additionally has a chip manufacturing enterprise often known as a foundry, which produces semiconductors for different corporations that design chips, corresponding to Qualcomm.
Earlier this 12 months, Samsung mentioned it could start making chips with a 2-nanometer course of in 2025. The corporate has now given a extra detailed street map, saying it will start mass manufacturing of the 2-nm course of for cellular purposes in 2025, then increase to high-performance computing in 2026 and to automotive in 2027.
The nanometer determine refers back to the measurement of every particular person transistor on a chip. The smaller the transistor, the extra of them will be packed onto a single semiconductor. Usually, a discount in nanometer measurement can yield extra highly effective and environment friendly chips.
For reference, Apple’s newest iPhone processor is made utilizing a 5-nm course of. Samsung anticipates that smartphones would require extra superior chips shifting ahead and is making ready for that in 2025.
Excessive-performance computing refers to chips for information facilities to coach and deploy synthetic intelligence purposes, as Samsung appears to be like to capitalize on the expansion of the expertise, partly spurred by the recognition of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Nvidia, a market chief in AI chips, depends on foundries like TSMC to fabricate its semiconductors.
Samsung’s foundry lags Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s greatest contract producer, by a long way. Within the first quarter of the 12 months, TSMC accounted for 59% of worldwide semiconductor foundry income, versus 13% for Samsung, in accordance with Counterpoint Analysis.
Samsung is now seeking to play catch-up by upping its capability and laying a street map out for high-growth areas within the chip market.
The corporate reiterated that its 1.4-nm course of will start in 2027 as deliberate.
Samsung additionally mentioned it’s persevering with to increase its chip manufacturing capability, with new manufacturing traces in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and Taylor, Texas, which Samsung has beforehand introduced.
