Samsung 3nm may start supply in 2024, many customers exposed

According to Korea Economic News, Samsung will manufacture chips for Nvidia, Qualcomm, IBM, Baidu and other customers with a 3-nanometer advanced process. After about 1 to 2 years of development, product availability is expected to begin in 2024 at the earliest.

According to sources, Samsung is developing semiconductors for 3nm processes with a number of American and Chinese fabless companies that design high-performance computing (HPC) chips. IBM, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Baidu, etc. are representative fabless customer companies.

It is reported that these client companies have selected Samsung Electronics as a commissioned manufacturer after comprehensively considering factors such as 3nm technology capabilities, strategic partnerships from the past, and the necessity of securing multiple supply chains. The industry predicts that Samsung, which has lagged behind TSMC in the 4-5 nanometer competition in the past 1 to 2 years, will create an opportunity to reverse the situation through the 3-nanometer process.

Samsung has said that compared with the current main engineering 5nm engineering chips, semiconductors mass-produced in the 3nm process will increase power efficiency and performance by 45% and 23% respectively, and the area will also be reduced by 16%.

Previously, Qualcomm stated at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit in 2022 that 3nm and 4nm AP chips will be manufactured by TSMC in the future, but after entering the GAA process, it is possible to adopt a multi-supplier strategy that simultaneously orders Samsung, TSMC and other foundries .