Samsung to Produce Chips Using 3-Nanometer Process Technology

Samsung Electronics said it has begun mass production of chips with 3-nanometer technology, a world first, as it seeks new customers to catch up with larger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in contract chip production.

Samsung said in a statement that the 3-nanometre process could reduce power consumption by 45%, boost performance by 23% and reduce area by 16% compared with 5-nanometre chips.

Customers for its latest foundry technology, which supplies custom chips such as mobile processors and high-performance computing chips, are not yet known, but it is likely that Samsung itself and Chinese companies will be among the first customers. Samsung Co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun said earlier this year that its foundry business would be looking for new customers in China as various companies seek capacity to address the ongoing global chip shortage.

Samsung ranks second with a 16.3% market share, according to TrendForce, last year announced an investment plan of 171 trillion won ($132 billion) to overtake TSMC as the world's leading logic chipmaker by 2030. TSMC controls about 54% of the global contract manufacturing market for chips used by companies such as Apple and Qualcom.  Meanwhile, TSMC plans to produce chips with 2-nanometer production in 2025.