Samsung's Foundry Division Turns Round and Plans to Surpass TSMC in 2nm Leadership
Samsung's semiconductor foundry arm is poised for a major turnaround, with company executives publicly proclaiming their intent to go head to head with TSMC in the next-generation 2-nanometer (nm) process. This new optimism comes after a long period in the wilderness and has been bolstered by new high-profile client orders and promising developments in its 2nm manufacturing technology.
Renewed Confidence and Strategic Focus
During a recent semiconductor industry meeting with South Korean government officials, Song Jae-hyuk, CEO of Samsung's DS division and CTO, expressed his overwhelming sense of optimism about the foundry's return. His comments are in themselves a clear indication of seriousness on Samsung's part in putting a contest for the top position in the world market within reach; especially as the industry gears towards the critical 2nm node transition.
"The 2nm process has become the battleground in which the key setting will be the AI semiconductor market -- performance, power efficiency and thermal management are the ultimate key selling points," says industry observers on what they see to be a strategic turning point for Samsung after falling behind with TSMC in the 3nm race.
The Comeback in Key Developments
Apart from these, several factors fuel Samsung's optimism:
- New Customer Wins: Samsung recently landed orders from major clients like Tesla, Apple, Nintendo, and IBM to spice up the already harmonizing picture after struggling for years. Negotiations with AMD and other fabless AI companies are also underway.
- Promising 2nm Yields: For the first time, talks could lead to a yield figure that could be as much as 70% for the process toward the end of this year or early next year. This is a much higher target than those used in the past. Positive comments and feedback from major customers during this testing phase have been reported.
- High-Profile Projects: The company plans mass production of an AI accelerator for Japanese AI company PFN at the 2nm node. Additionally, Tenstorrent, Jim Keller's AI semiconductor company, is said to be considering both Samsung and TSMC for its next-gen chips.
The Exynos 2600 A Critical Test Case
One huge test for the 2nm process from Samsung will be the ability to mass produce its own Exynos 2600 mobile applications processor to be used in the next Galaxy smartphone series. This processor is anticipated to take the performance in artificial intelligence processing to new heights. Internal-to-internal comparisons have shown excellent results; however, the final judge will be commercially mass-produced chips.
Mass production of the 2nm wafers for Exynos 2600 reportedly started in the last week of September, thereby marking a crucial first step toward widespread deployment of the technology.
Industry and Government Collaboration
The meeting highlighted the need for greater industry and government support to be competitive with Taiwan's semiconductor sector. Also present at the meeting were executives from SK Hynix, who made calls for government-level support like tax incentives to address challenges in technologies and even in human resources.
With full-scale 2nm production on the horizon, the recent statements and strategic wins by Samsung show that the company is on track with its performance and yield targets which, set the stage for intensified competition with TSMC, on foundry market leadership.
