Strategy announcement at Samsung Foundry Forum
Increasing production capacity by more than triple compared to this year’s
Increasing over 50% of non-mobile sales ↑
Samsung Electronics will commercialize the 1.4-nm foundry process using a next-generation transistor structure gate all-around (GAA) from 2027. It is the company’s ambition to preoccupy the 1.4-nm process for the first time, following the mass production of the world's first 3-nm process in June. Samsung Electronics also set a goal to increase the proportion of 'non-mobile' product sales by more than 50% by 2027.
On the 3rd (local time), Samsung Electronics unveiled its foundry business strategy at the 'Samsung Foundry Forum 2022' held in San Jose, USA. This year's event was held offline for the first time in three years since the COVID-19. Through GAA-based process technology innovation, Samsung Electronics plans to introduce 2nm and 1.4nm in 2025 and 2027, respectively. This is the first time that a plan for mass production of a 1.4 nano semiconductor process has been transpired. TSMC announced its 1.4nm R&D plan through the Taiwanese media in last May, but did not confirm the date of mass production.
Being first to switch to the GAA structure, Samsung Electronics will mass-produce the cutting edge process for the first time, and strengthening its foundry competitiveness. GAA is a technology that controls current more precisely than the existing FinFET structure by increasing the gate and channel junctions that control the current in the semiconductor from three to four. Samsung Electronics applied GAA transistor technology in June, and started mass production of the world's first 3-nano first-generation process.
Compare to this year’s production capacity, Samsung Electronics will more than triple its production capacity for the front-end process by 2027. It is currently operating a foundry manufacturing line at its Taylor sites in the US, and facilities in Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The 2nd Taylor Plant, which will be built in the future, will proceed with a 'shell-first' strategy. Shell first means preemptively constructing a clean room, then securing production capacity through facility investment in connection with future market demand. Samsung Electronics mentioned the possibility of expanding its global lines domestically and overseas.
Samsung electronics will advance semiconductor heterogeneous integrated packaging technology along with process miniaturization. The 3D packaging 'X-Cube' using micro bumps will be released in 2024, and the bumpless X-Cube will be developed in 2026. More input/output (I/O) terminals can be arranged by miniaturizing or directly connecting bumps which is connecting the semiconductor chip and the substrate. Samsung Electronics is putting emphasis in packaging as it complements the limitations of semiconductor miniaturization. Samsung Electronics advanced its stacking technology by introducing the 2.5D package technology I-Cube in 2018 and the 3D package X-Cube in 2020.
Samsung Electronics announced a goal to increase the proportion of non-memory sales to 50% in 2027. It plans to actively target high-performance and low-power semiconductor markets such as high-performance computing (HPC), automotive semiconductors, and 5G.
There were more than 500 people including fabless customers, business partners, and partners attending the Samsung Foundry Forum this year. Samsung Electronics is currently providing more than 4000 IPs to 56 intellectual property (IP) partners. It discovers new fabless customers through improving customized services such as performance, delivery time, and price competitiveness. It is actively recruiting Hyperscale computing (large data center operators) and startups.
A general manger of Samsung Electronics’ foundry business Si-young Choi said, “The success for our customers is due to the existence of Samsung Electronics’ foundry business. Samsung Electronics will set a new standard in the foundry industry as a partner that provides a better future.”
By Staff Reporter Yoon-seop Song (sys@etnews.com)