Samsung Electronics is reportedly experiencing complications with its new manufacturing process. This might cause processor delays next generation. This method, however, would offer a noticeable increase in performance and reduce energy consumption.
The GAA: an engraving in 3 nm
Samsung is thinking of launching a new chip manufacturing process, the “Gate-All-Around process”, or GAA. Designed by Samsung Electronics, the latter would not give the expected results. With the GAA process, the report indeed points to a state of low performance on the chipsets. This lack of performance might lead to insufficient processors. A shortage that the world had already been facing for years.
Samsung’s mobile smartphone division is quite separate from the electronics manufacturing division, Samsung Electronics. The latter has contracts with companies like Qualcomm or Exynos, its own range of SoCs. Samsung Electronics will also rely on the new 3nm GAA process to the next generation of Snapdragon. This might happen if Samsung Electronics manages to increase the rate of return of the GAA.
TSMC still in finFET process
Current chipsets are manufactured using the finFET process. This consists of using electronic gates on three of the four sides inside the SoC. The GAA process optimizes this method and thus surrounds all four sides of the doors. This technique allows the multiplication of the density of the chip by 1.35. This results in a 35% performance boost. The chipset will thus be able to run with less than 50% energy compared to the finFET process.
The processors thus become faster and offer longer battery life. The gratins of Android smartphones mainly run with Qualcomm or Snapdragon SoCs. This delay is similar to a relegation of Exynos to the background by the next generation chipset from Qualcomm in 3 nm. The American manufacturer will logically name this processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and will succeed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
We were already seeing Samsung Electronics losing the market to Qualcomm for some SoCs, due to low rates. Samsung should solve this problem in time and improve its 3 nm processor as soon as possible. History is likely to repeat itself for the transition to the next generation of processors. The Snapdragon maker might well turn to other factories like TSMC for its next chipset orders.
Conclusion
TSMC’s Achilles’ heel is its choice to always use finFET for its 3nm process. Samsung Electronics, with its GAA process, might well be faster in 2023. The Korean firm should still solve its rate of return problem until then.
