text: Original by Dongchedi Song Aiju
[Original by Dongchedi Industry] According to foreign media CNBC, on October 4, South Korean electronics giant Samsung said that it aims to produce the world's most advanced semiconductor within five years, and to launch a direct competition with TSMC, the world's largest chip manufacturer.
Samsung's chip production plan roadmap released shows that its will start manufacturing the chip with 2nm process and 1.4nm process in 2025 and 2027.
Samsung announced a chip production plan for the 1.4-nanometer process before TSMC
nanometer number refers to the size of each transistor on the chip. The smaller the transistor, the more transistors can be packaged onto a single semiconductor. Typically, the reduction in nano size can produce more powerful and more efficient chips. For reference, the processors of the latest iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models of Apple are 4nm chips.
It is reported that Samsung has started the production of 3nm chips earlier this year. After the release of the above news, South Korea's Samsung's stock price rose nearly 4%.
Samsung released the above ambitious plan, hoping to expand its chip manufacturing or foundry business to catch up with Taiwan's TSMC. According to TrendForce data, Samsung is the world's second largest chip foundry based on revenue, with a market share of 17.3%, and TSMC is 52.9%.
Samsung is the world's second largest chip foundry
TSMC is expected to start production of 3nm chips this year and is expected to start production of 2nm in 2025; at the same time, TSMC has not officially announced plans to mass-produce 1.4nm chips. Samsung announced its production plan before TSMC, with the goal of receiving more demand orders for chip foundry production.
"This is the first time that SEC ( Samsung Electronics ) has released its long-term foundry roadmap, and I think it is more aggressive than TSMC and market expectations," said SK Kim, an analyst at Yamato Capital Markets.
Samsung's ambitious plan comes at a time when global economic headwinds and signs of slowing semiconductor demand. Global chip industry sales in August fell 3.4% compared with July, according to the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association.
Nevertheless, Samsung said it plans to expand its production capacity of state-of-the-art chips by 2027 more than this year, highlighting its optimism for future demand. This includes its U.S. factory, Samsung has a facility in Austin, Texas, and is currently building a $17 billion factory in Taylor, the same state.
Washington has been seeking to attract chip manufacturers such as Samsung and TSMC to set up factories in the United States to reduce reliance on manufacturing centers in Taiwan and South Korea. While Samsung is very concerned about cutting-edge chips, the company also said that by 2027, semiconductors for high-performance computers, automobiles and 5G applications will account for more than 50% of its foundry business. These are usually less advanced chips.
