Thursday, May 30th 2024
Samsung Could Start 1nm Mass Production Sooner Than Expected
Samsung Foundry business is set to announce its technology roadmap and plans to strengthen the foundry ecosystem at the Foundry and SAFE Forum in Silicon Valley from June 12 to 13. Notably, Samsung is expected to advance its 1 nm process mass production plan, originally scheduled for 2027, to 2026. This move could look like a surprise since recent rumors (denied by Samsung) emerged about HBM3 and HBM3E chips running too hot and failing to be validated by NVIDIA.
Previously, Samsung successfully mass-produced the world's first 3 nm wafer foundry in June 2022. The company plans to start mass production of its second-generation 3 nm process in 2024 and 2 nm process in 2025. Speculations suggest Samsung may integrate these nodes and potentially begin mass-producing 2 nm chips as early as the second half of 2024. In comparison, rival TSMC aims to reach the A16 node (1.6 nm) in 2027 and start mass production of its 1.4 nm process around 2027-2028.
Source:
IJiWei
Previously, Samsung successfully mass-produced the world's first 3 nm wafer foundry in June 2022. The company plans to start mass production of its second-generation 3 nm process in 2024 and 2 nm process in 2025. Speculations suggest Samsung may integrate these nodes and potentially begin mass-producing 2 nm chips as early as the second half of 2024. In comparison, rival TSMC aims to reach the A16 node (1.6 nm) in 2027 and start mass production of its 1.4 nm process around 2027-2028.
11 Comments on Samsung Could Start 1nm Mass Production Sooner Than Expected
The next node is presumably 0nm, and if anyone believes that's a real node measurement, they're going to absolutely lose their sh1t at -1nm!
Time for a better naming scheme this year, we've hit the end of the road for the "nanometers" system.
The "3nm" as they call it is a perfect example as first produced in 2022. We're in 2024 now and not even Samsung's own Exynos 2400 chips that are small and used in their own products use 3nm (neither the first or second gen). Their next Exynos 2500 is supposed to finally use the second gen 3nm but only starting from 2025. Even their own flagship S24 Ultra uses Qualcomm's 4nm chip. That about sums up Samsung's process nodes...
Couple that with recent news about their HBM3e failing qualification and you can surmise that any announcement from Samsung has to be taken with a boatload of salt.
Any process is good enough for a phone.
I would not say that any process is good for a phone. It needs to have good power efficiency, good density and the modem is the hardest part to get right - just ask Intel who tried and failed and Apple for all it's engineering resources has been unable to produce their in-house design for years and likely years to come - forcing them to buy their modems from Qualcomm.
But my point was that if Samsung is not using 3nm for even their own Exynos chips and are using essentially TSMC's 4nm then how can they win contracts for it?
Plus Exynos has a really poor reputation -. just look at comment section when discussing mobile SoC's and you'll see much hate for it.
Obviously it's not THAT bad but it's no Snapdragon either. In the past the only benefit Exynos had against Snapdragon was bootloader unlocking but since most people no longer do that it's likely not a big argument (assuming Samsung has not locked this down too).