Semiconductor chips: Samsung wants to start production of 1.4 nm chips from 2027

At a forum held Monday in Silicon Valley, Samsung Electronics unveiled the roadmap it wants to apply to its chip manufacturing division in the next five years.

According to the plan, the South Korean giant’s foundries will start making 2-nanometer chips from 2025. Then they will switch to 1.4-nanometer technology from 2027. An ambitious plan that comes just three months after Samsung became the first structure to launch the production of 3 nanometer chips. A technology which is currently the most sophisticated on the market and which could therefore be exceeded from 2025.

Samsung bets on innovation to catch up with rival TSMC

The global foundry market remains largely dominated by the Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC, which alone holds market share. Second-place Samsung currently attracts only 15% of orders. This, despite the fact that the Korean firm is considered to be the largest manufacturer of memory chips in the world.

For several years, Samsung has been trying somehow to fill this gap, which has only increased in recent years. After the failure of previous strategies, the chipmaker finally chose to put innovation at the heart of its new strategy, which it presented to nearly 500 potential customers.

This new tactic relies heavily on shrinking chip circuitry. Samsung is aware that smaller chips are certainly more difficult to produce, but remain more powerful since they can contain more transistors. By going faster in the evolution of its manufacturing technology, the company hopes to steal market share from TSMC. This would allow her to reduce the gap between her and her rival.

It should be remembered that only now TSMC plans to launch the production of 3nm chips. Worse, the company has indicated that it intends to supply this type of chip to its main customer, Apple, from the second half of next year.

Samsung also wants to increase its production capacity

At the forum, Choi Si-Young, who holds the position of director of foundries at Samsung, addressed the audience of guests. He said the success of his customers was the raison d’être of Samsung’s foundry division. He then added that:

“Samsung, as a partner in creating a better future, will deliver a new standard in the foundry industry.”

And so that this new standard can be within everyone’s reach, Samsung has said it wants to triple its production capacity in the next five years. For this, the firm will be able to rely in the years to come on new state-of-the-art infrastructures. In addition to its new research center whose work has already started, Samsung hopes to see new manufacturing plants emerge from the ground.

Currently, the firm is building a 17 billion euro foundry in Taylor, Texas and expects to bring its total investments in this American state to nearly 200 billion euros over the next twenty years.

Source: The Korea Herald