"Strengthening the Foundry Ecosystem, Securing 3nm Technology"... Samsung Electronics Hosts 'SAFE' Forum

Samsung Foundry Customer Event... Introducing Fabless Collaboration Achievements

Samsung Electronics 'SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) Forum 2021' Introduction Video
[Photo by Samsung Electronics]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Samsung Electronics held the 'SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) Forum 2021' on the 18th and announced that it will strengthen the foundry (semiconductor foundry) ecosystem together with its partners.

The SAFE Forum is an event where Samsung Electronics promotes collaboration with foundry customers. Since its first launch in 2019, this year marks the third event. This year, under the theme of 'Performance Platform 2.0,' discussions were held on ways to enhance solutions necessary for chip implementation based on cutting-edge processes.

Lee Sang-hyun, Executive Vice President of the Design Platform Development Office at Samsung Electronics' Foundry Business Division, emphasized in his keynote speech, "As the transition to a data-centric era accelerates, Samsung Electronics' ecosystem is also evolving to meet the increasing demands of customers," adding, "As a strong supporter of the SAFE program, Samsung Electronics will lead the realization of the 'Performance Platform 2.0' vision upgraded with 'Innovation,' 'Intelligence,' and 'Integration.'"

At the forum, Samsung Electronics announced that it has expanded infrastructure with partners across all foundry fields, including HPC (High-Performance Computing), AI (Artificial Intelligence) electronic design automation (EDA), cloud, IP (Intellectual Property), Design Solution Partners (DSP), and package solutions, which are essential in the data-centric era.

It also introduced that it has secured more than 80 electronic design automation tools and technologies to systematically analyze and manage design data, optimized for the 3nm GAA (Gate-All-Around) structure semiconductor design infrastructure and package design solutions scheduled for mass production in the first half of next year. Additionally, it mentioned that new technologies such as GPU-based computing methods have been introduced to shorten design time.

The integrated cloud design platform (CDP) supports hybrid clouding functions compatible with customers' existing design environments and enhances customer convenience by expanding pre-installation of necessary design software.

Samsung Electronics also added that it is developing high-performance and low-power semiconductor design know-how in collaboration with 12 global design solution partners and supporting fabless (semiconductor design specialized) companies in semiconductor development.

The forum also showcased the achievements of fabless companies collaborating based on Samsung Electronics' SAFE platform. Notably, the domestic AI semiconductor fabless startup 'FuriosaAI' succeeded in developing AI semiconductors for data centers and edge servers together with Samsung Electronics' design solution partner 'SemiFive.'

Baek Jun-ho, CEO of FuriosaAI, said, "We were able to design the highest-performance AI semiconductors and quickly enter the global AI semiconductor market by having prototypes manufactured and verified at Samsung Electronics," adding, "I gained ideas for the next AI semiconductor implementation at this forum."

The forum can be viewed until the 18th of next month through the 'SAFE Forum 2021' homepage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.