Samsung Outpaces TSMC, Starts Manufacturing 3-Nanometer Chips

Samsung Electronics has outpaced TSMC in terms of manufacturing 3nm chipsets and it has started initial production of its 3-nanometer process node applying Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor architecture.

The leaders of Samsung Foundry Business and Semiconductor R&D Center are holding up three fingers as a symbol of 3nm celebrating the company’s first ever production of 3nm process with GAA architecture. Image: Samsung

Samsung Electronics has outpaced Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, popularly known as TSMC in terms of manufacturing 3nm chipsets and it has started initial production of its 3-nanometer process node applying Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor architecture. Samsung is starting the first application of the nanosheet transistor with semiconductor chips for high-performance, low-power computing application and plans to expand to mobile processors. Its announcement comes as a global first and before TSMC, one of the largest contract component manufacturers.

“Samsung has grown rapidly as we continue to demonstrate leadership in applying next-generation technologies to manufacturing, such as foundry industry’s first High-K Metal Gate, FinFET, as well as EUV. We seek to continue this leadership with the world’s first 3nm process with the MBCFET,” Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

“We will continue active innovation in competitive technology development and build processes that help expedite achieving maturity of technology.”

Since the third quarter of 2021, Samsung Electronics has been providing proven design infrastructure through extensive preparation with Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) partners including Ansys, Cadence, Siemens and Synopsys.

As technology nodes get smaller and chip performance needs grow greater, IC designers face challenges of handling tremendous amounts of data to verify complex products with more functions and tighter scaling. To meet these demands, Samsung strives to provide a more stable design environment to help reduce the time required for design, verification and sign-off process, while also boosting product reliability.