At one time, Samsung Electronics was ahead of TSMC with the formal development of mass production of 3-nm products, but this did not bring it much commercial success in the market for contract manufacturing of chips. In an attempt to once again demonstrate its technological potential, Samsung is now attracting customers to its 2nm process technology.
At least, the Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, citing sources, reports that Samsung has agreed with Qualcomm to produce prototypes of 2nm mobile processors for this American developer, expecting to receive orders for their mass production in the future. Let us recall that Qualcomm demonstrates a certain omnivorousness in its choice of contract manufacturers, but cooperation with Samsung within the framework of 4nm technology did not work out due to problems with the level of defects, so Qualcomm refused the services of the Korean contractor for some time. If Samsung’s confidence is restored by moving to 2nm, it could benefit the company’s contract business.
Business Korea, citing foreign media, reports that among Samsung’s potential clients for the contract production of 2nm chips is the young Japanese company Preferred Networks, which develops computing accelerators for artificial intelligence systems, and its investors include Toyota, NTT and Fanuc. According to industry sources, Samsung attracted this customer not so much with the qualities of its 2nm process technology, but rather with the capabilities of integration with HBM-type memory, which it also produces. In addition, the Japanese developer could simply be trying to find an alternative to TSMC services, which are too in demand, and therefore can form long queues and other inconveniences.
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