Samsung Semiconductor held a lecture at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) earlier today, where the president of the Samsung Device Solutions Division, Kye Hyun Kyung, presented a vision of a future where Samsung Semiconductor will catch up with its Taiwanese rival TSMC.
The president admitted that Samsung’s foundry technology “lags behind TSMC.” He explained that Samsung’s 4nm technology is roughly two years behind TSMC, and its 3nm process is about one year behind its rival.
However, the president also explained that Samsung has an advantage now, and the company could overtake TSMC. “We can outperform TSMC within five years.” (via Hankyung)
Samsung’s early push into GAA may close the gap
The idea that Samsung could outperform TSMC within the next five years comes from the fact that Samsung intends to use Gate All Around (GAA) technology starting with its 3nm foundry process. In contrast, TSMC won’t use GAA before it reaches 2nm production, and Samsung believes this will allow it to catch up with its Taiwanese rival.
GAA is a process that could enable Samsung to produce chips that are both smaller (45%) and consume less energy (%50) than chips based on processes presently used by TSMC. And according to the president, “Customers’ response to Samsung Electronics’ 3nm GAA process is good.”
Interestingly, Kye Hyun Kyung also said Samsung expects memory semiconductors to become more important in developing AI servers and outweigh NVIDIA GPUs. According to the CEO, Samsung will “make sure that memory semiconductor-centered supercomputers can come out by 2028.”
Other recent reports say that Samsung also improved its 4nm yield to the point where it won over two major clients: AMD and Google. The Korean tech giant will reportedly manufacture Google’s Tensor 3 chip on its third-generation 4nm process node. The rumored Exynos 2400 SoC may also be built on an advanced 4nm process.
