Samsung launches production of world’s first 3nm chips
Samsung Electronics has officially announced that it has launched mass production of 3-nanometer etched chips, becoming the first company to do so globally. It thus cuts the grass under the foot of TSMC, its main competitor.
Samsung Foundry has finally announced that it has started mass production of its first generation chips on the 3nm node. They are based on the new GAA (Gate-All-Around) transistor architecture, which is the next step after the famous FinFET. In particular, Gate-All-Around allows the founder to reduce the size of transistors, without affecting their ability to carry current. For its part, TSMC will permanently abandon FinFET for GAA when it starts shipping 2 nm chips in 2026.
Samsung claims the new manufacturing process is 45% more energy-efficient than its previous 5nm process, is 23% more efficient, and has a 16% smaller surface area. In the future, Samsung hopes that its second-generation 3nm process can reduce power consumption and size by 50% and 35% respectively, and increase performance by 30%.
What will be the first chips engraved in 3 nm?
Samsung said this new process would be used to ” high-performance, low-power computing ”, mobile processors arriving later. In the smartphone market, we imagine that the first chip to offer such fine engraving will be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that Qualcomm will present next November, and which will equip most of the high-end devices of 2023. We know that TSMC should launch the production of the next Apple M3 chips for the MacBooks of 2023 with an engraving of 3 nm, before she is not later adopted by the A17 chip of the iPhone 15.
The arrival of 3 nm chips on the market proves that Samsung intends to continue to jostle with TSMC, its historic rival. Last month, Samsung announced that it planned to spend $355 billion over the next five years in what it calls its strategic businesses, which include semiconductors.
Source : Samsung
