Samsung also shared that it has secured additional foundry partners for its Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE)
At its 7th annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2023, Samsung shares its latest foundry technology mission business strategy, focusing largely on the growing need to address artificial intelligence (AI) through advanced semiconductor technology.
“Samsung Foundry has always met customer needs by being ahead of the technology innovation curve, and today, we are confident that our gate-all-around (GAA)-based advanced node technology will be instrumental in supporting the needs of our customers using AI applications,” said Dr. Siyoung Choi, president and head of Samsung’s Foundry.
Specifically, the company announced several key developments positioned to increase its competitiveness in the foundry space, including expanded applications of its 2-nanometer (nm) process and the production capacity at its Pyeongtaek fab Line 3 (P3). Samsung also launched a new “Multi-Die Integration (MDI) Alliance” for next-generation packaging technology.
When it comes to the 2nm process, Samsung said mass production will begin for mobile applications in 2025, then expand to HPC in 2026 and automotive in 2027. “Samsung’s 2nm process (SF2) has shown a 12% increase in performance, a 25% increase in power efficiency and a 5% decrease in area, when compared to its 3nm process (SF3),” said the company.
Further, beginning in 2025, Samsung will begin foundry services for 8-inch gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors targeting consumer, data center and automotive applications.
Samsung is also adding new manufacturing lines in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and Taylor, Texas, with current expansion plans set to increase the company’s clean room capacity by 7.3 times by 2027 compared to 2021. The company said it will also continue to expand its production base to Yongin, South Korea, which is located about 10 km east of Samsung’s Hwaseong and Giheung campuses.
Lastly, Samsung shared that it has secured additional foundry partners for its Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE), which it said promotes “mutual growth of the foundry ecosystem” in service of its customers.
Samsung has 23 EDA partners and together, they offer 80 design tools. The company also collaborates with 10 OSAT partners to develop 2.5D/3D packaging design solutions and has secured a portfolio of over 4,500 key IPs from 50 global IP partners.
“Through extensive collaboration with our SAFE partners, Samsung Foundry is helping simplify designs that are becoming even more complex amid the application of the most advanced processes and new technologies such as heterogeneous integration,” said Jong-wook Kye, executive vice president and head of Design Platform Development, Foundry Business at Samsung. “We will continue to strive for consistent growth in the Samsung Foundry ecosystem in terms of both scale and quality.”
Earlier this year, Samsung announced plans for a massive $230 billion investment in South Korea’s chip-making capacity, in the form of a new “mega cluster” of silicon manufacturing that could end up being the world’s largest such hub. The investment, to be made over the next decade, will yield five new semiconductor plants to be built by Samsung in Gyeonggi Province by the year 2042. Those plants will serve as the anchor for the cluster, which the government says will be the world’s largest such facility.
