Industry, Trade and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang (C), Kyung Kye-hyun (front row, 4th from L), CEO of Samsung Electronics Co.’s device solutions division, and other participants pose for a photo at a chip plant of Samsung Electronics Co. in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, on July 25, 2022, during a ceremony to mark the first shipment of the next-generation 3nm chips built on Gate-All-Around technology, a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced and efficient chips to date. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday marked the first shipment of 3-nanometer semiconductors at a ceremony, a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced and efficient chips to date.
The next-generation 3nm chips are built on Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, which Samsung said will eventually allow an area reduction of up to 35 percent, while providing 30 percent higher performance and 50 percent lower power consumption, compared with the existing FinFET process.
Samsung said its first-generation of the 3nm process node achieves a 16 percent area reduction, 23 percent higher performance and 45 percent lower power consumption.
The advancement in the sophisticated chipmaking technology, which happened faster than its foundry rival TSMC of Taiwan, is expected to bring Samsung more customers looking for powerful chips that enable smaller, faster and more efficient technology products.
“Samsung opened a new chapter in the foundry business today, with the start of mass production of 3nm chips,” Kyung Kye-hyun, CEO of Samsung’s device solutions division, which supervises the chip business, said in the ceremony at its Hwaseong production lines, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul.
“The development of the GAA technology earlier than expected as an alternative to the FinFET process was an innovative breakthrough,” Kyung said.
An employee carries a semiconductor wafer containing 3-nanometer semiconductors at a chip plant of Samsung Electronics Co. in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, on July 25, 2022, during a ceremony to mark the first shipment of the next-generation 3nm chips built on Gate-All-Around technology, a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced and efficient chips to date. (Yonhap)
Samsung said it started developing the GAA technology in the early 2000s and succeeded in 2017 in applying it to the 3nm node.
The tech giant said high performance computing is the first product developed based on the 3nm GAA technology and it plans to expand the application into other product categories.
Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang, who attended the ceremony, vowed to “spare no effort to fully support the semiconductor industry,” based on the government’s long-term policy to boost the industry by helping nurture talent, providing financial support and creating a healthy chip ecosystem.
(Yonhap)
