In June of this year, Samsung took the lead in launching the production of 3nm process chips based on the GAA (Gate All Around) architecture. In the future, Samsung will continue to improve GAA-related technologies and introduce them into 2nm and 1.7nm node processes. According to the plan, Samsung will mass-produce 2nm advanced process technology in 2025, and mass-produce 1.4nm process technology by 2027.

On October 20, Samsung Electronics held a foundry forum in Seoul, South Korea. Samsung has previously held the forum in California, USA, Munich, Germany, and Tokyo, Japan. Seoul, South Korea is the final site of this year's Samsung foundry forum. . At the above-mentioned foundry series activities, Samsung introduced the latest technological achievements and the development plan of the foundry business in the next five years.

Bet on advanced process: 2nm in 2025, 1.4nm in 2027!

In June of this year, Samsung took the lead in launching the production of 3nm process chips based on the GAA (Gate All Around) architecture. In the future, Samsung will continue to improve GAA-related technologies and introduce them into 2nm and 1.7nm node processes. According to the plan, Samsung will mass-produce 2nm advanced process technology in 2025, and mass-produce 1.4nm process technology by 2027.

Samsung believes that with the remarkable growth of high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), 5/6G connectivity and automotive application markets, the demand for advanced semiconductors has increased dramatically, which makes the innovation of semiconductor technology crucial to the business success of OEM customers. To this end, Samsung emphasized its commitment to mass production of its most advanced process technology of 1.4 nm in 2027, and plans to expand the production capacity of its advanced nodes by more than three times by 2027.

Samsung expects non-mobile applications, including HPC and automotive, to exceed 50% of its foundry portfolio by 2027. Samsung will enhance its GAA-based 3nm process support for HPC and mobile devices, while further enriching its 4nm process specifically for HPC and automotive applications.

In order to improve yield and production capacity, Samsung has also deployed a "shell-first" strategy: that is, no matter what the market conditions are, first build a clean room, and then flexibly invest in specific equipment according to market demand. Through the new investment strategy, Samsung is able to respond to the needs of customers in a timely manner, and Samsung plans to use this strategy for the second-phase production line of the Taylor plant in the United States.

In addition, Samsung is also accelerating the development of 2.5D/3D heterogeneous integrated packaging technology to provide overall system solutions for foundry services. Through continuous innovation, its microbump interconnected 3D package X-Cube will be mass-produced in 2024, and its bumpless X-Cube will be available in 2026.

Meet in 2025, Samsung, TSMC 2nm confrontation?

Coincidentally, another major foundry giant TSMC also recently revealed the latest progress in advanced manufacturing.

In terms of 3nm, TSMC said that customer demand for 3nm exceeds TSMC's supply, partly due to the ongoing problem of machine delivery. It is estimated that it will be fully loaded next year, and 3nm revenue will account for about 4-6%.

In terms of 2nm, TSMC said that everything is going well at present, and it will still mass produce according to the schedule. TSMC introduced that compared with the 3nm process, under the same power consumption, the 2nm speed is 10~15% faster; under the same speed, the power consumption is reduced by 25~30%. TSMC will introduce the GAA architecture at the 2nm node and is expected to enter risky trial production in the second half of 2024 and mass production in 2025.

In this way, in 2025, Samsung and TSMC will compete head-to-head on the 2nm advanced process.

This is not the first time that the two large factories have "hit the mark" in terms of advanced manufacturing process. In terms of 3nm time, Samsung and TSMC have chosen 2022. Samsung has announced the mass production of 3nm in the first half of the year, and TSMC plans to mass produce 3nm in this year.

As for the more advanced 1.4nm process, the media reports that TSMC has started the process development of 1.4nm chip, but the official has not released the specific production time.

Epilogue

Qiao An, an analyst at TrendForce Jibang Consulting, a global market research organization, said that the foundry industry has entered a high growth cycle since 2020. With the expansion of the industry's production capacity and the contribution of wafer price increase, the global foundry output value is expected to grow by 28% in 2022, which will be higher than the level of the past two years.

However, with the sluggish demand for chips and the foundry industry entering a period of inventory adjustment, the growth of global foundry will slow down in 2023. Qiao An believes that in a market situation where the overall global economic visibility is sluggish and the consumption strength of electronic products has not improved, the diversification and uniqueness of fab processes have become the key to the operation of wafer foundries.

Source:DRAMeXchange