Samsung Foundry, the second-biggest chip manufacturer in the world, has announced that it is on track to fabricate 2nm semiconductor chips in 2025 and 1.4nm chips in 2027. The company revealed this information while announcing its process technology roadmap at the seventh Samsung Foundry Forum 2023 event.
During the event, the South Korean firm also published some more information about its 2nm chip fabrication technology.
Samsung Foundry's 2nm chips will be 25% more power-efficient than 3nm chips
According to the company's claims, SF2 (Samsung Foundry 2nm) will be available to clients in 2025. This fabrication technology offers 25% higher power efficiency with the same clock speeds and complexity. It also offers a 12% improvement in performance and a 5% decrease in die area compared to its second-generation 3nm chips that it started making earlier this year. To make 2nm chips more attractive, Samsung Foundry will offer ways to integrate the technology into various chip designs, including LPDDR5X, HBM3, PCIe Gen 6, and 112G SerDes.
Samsung's 2nm chips (SF2) will be followed by the second-generation 2nm-class semiconductor chip manufacturing process called SF2P (Samsung Foundry 2nm Performance). These chips will be optimized for high-performance computing and will be available in 2026. In 2027, the company will make SF2A (Samsung Foundry 2nm Automotive) available for automotive chips.
Samsung Foundry and TSMC will make their 2nm chip fabrication technology available in 2025
The company's 2nm class chips will be available to clients around the same time as TSMC's 2nm fabrication technology. So, it will be interesting to see which process is chosen by big-name chip clients, including AMD, Apple, MediaTek, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. Intel's 2nm class chip fabrication process, called 20A, will be available in 2024.
Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, said, “Samsung Foundry has always met customer needs by being ahead of the technology innovation curve, and today, we are confident that our gate-all-around (GAA)-based advanced node technology will be instrumental in supporting the needs of our customers using AI applications. Ensuring the success of our customers is the most central value to our foundry services.”
Samsung's 5nm RF chips will offer 40% improved power efficiency
Samsung Foundry is also planning to bring 5nm RF (Radio Frequency) chips in the first half of 2025. They will be used in 6G applications. It will be a huge jump compared to current-generation 14nm RF chips, offering a 40% improvement in power efficiency and 50% higher transistor density. 8nm and 14nm RF chips will be made available for cars.
The South Korean firm also has plans to make 8-inch GaN (Gallium Nitride) power semiconductor chips for consumer products, data centers, and automotive use cases in 2025.
The company is also expanding its manufacturing capacities at chip plants in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and Taylor, Texas, USA. The mass production of chips at Samsung Foundry's Pyeongtaek Line 3 (P3) will start in the second half of 2023. Its new fabrication plant in Taylor, Texas, will be completed by the end of this year, and mass production will start in the second half of 2024. It is also expanding chip production to Yongin, South Korea.
