Samsung has started production of 3nm chips, beating rival chip maker TSMC for a more power efficient manufacturing process. bloomberg Report. TSMC’s 3nm process is not expected to go into mass production until the second half of 2022.
Samsung says the new manufacturing process is 45 percent more power efficient than its previous 5nm process, has 23 percent more performance and 16 percent smaller surface area. In the future, it hopes that its second-generation 3nm process can reduce power consumption and size by up to 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively, and boost performance by up to 30 percent.
The announcement marks a significant milestone in Samsung’s efforts to compete with TSMC, which dominates the market for contract chip production and is the maker of Apple’s chips for its iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and Macs. but bloomberg The report said Samsung is unlikely to be able to penetrate against TSMC’s market share unless it can prove that the cost-efficiency of its new 3nm process is competitive with that of the market leader.
Samsung says the chips will initially be produced for “high-performance, low-power computing” applications, but it plans for them to eventually make their way to mobile. The chips will be manufactured in South Korea for now, initially at its Hwaseong facilities before expanding to Pyeongtaek, bloomberg notes. The company’s upcoming chip plant in Texas, which early reports said may eventually have the capacity to produce 3nm chips, isn’t scheduled to begin mass manufacturing until 2024.
The chip manufacturing space has come under heavy scrutiny as a result of recent global chip shortages, with the US, Europe and China competing for manufacturers to produce more chips domestically.