Samsung Electronics Foundry Division Partners With Neuralink For 4th Generation 4nm Brain Implant Chips Enabling Two Way Communication
An industry report by Hankyung has revealed that Samsung Electronics is partnering with Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain computer interface company, on a next generation semiconductor. The South Korean giant’s foundry division is designing the 4th generation of brain implant chip with an advanced 4 nanometer process. This partnership will significantly extend their existing relationship beyond that of autonomous car hardware into that of neural engineering.
Prototype testing silicon for the 4th generation brain implant is scheduled to ship out in the first half of next year, with mass production potentially coming late in 2025. What will distinguish the 4th generation chip from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation of the device is the ability to communicate two way with the brain; previous generations would read the signals to operate external devices, while the new silicon will be able to input digital signals back into the nervous system. The goal of this two way communication is to potentially trigger nerve paths and restore loss of function such as vision.
The goal behind this new contract, according to industry experts, is to reduce Neuralink’s dependence on TSMC, who fabricated the previous three generations of the company's brain implants. As the demand for AI hardware increases globally and pushes the limits of TSMC's current fabrication capabilities, finding a secure second provider becomes critical. Samsung was seen as the logical partner given their turnkey manufacturing capabilities, which will allow for memory, foundry services and advanced packaging to be delivered from a single supplier.
The partnership is built on the already existing trust between the two companies stemming from past contracts to produce autonomous vehicle chips for Tesla. After speculation emerged online concerning Samsung's manufacturing yields, Elon Musk took to his social media platform of choice to endorse Samsung's foundry capabilities.
Samsung Electronics and TSMC are both great companies. Combining the strengths of both will achieve great results.
The public vote of confidence from Musk has paved the way for the current collaboration on the neural engineering project, which targets an incredibly lucrative market and is estimated at 12 trillion South Korean Won.
For Samsung, this partnership is a significant technical validation that will likely breathe life back into its contract manufacturing operations. It is projected that Samsung's foundry division will return to profit for the first time in four years. This is expected to attract other multinational tech companies struggling to obtain chip fabrication orders for their advanced hardware beyond the traditional monopolistic players of TSMC. High level executives from other companies such as Google, AMD and Qualcomm have recently visited Samsung's fabrication facilities to explore manufacturing agreements. In an era where semiconductor demand only looks set to increase, Samsung's ability to fulfill high performance chip demands from global entities will place it firmly in the high end foundry market.
