'World's First Mass Production' vs 'First Customer Apple'... Heated Samsung vs TSMC 3nm Battle

TSMC to Produce Apple M2 Chip with 3nm Process
Samsung Counters with GAA Technology... "Stable Yield is Key"

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] The ultra-fine process competition between Samsung Electronics, which secured the title of 'world's first mass production of 3nm,' and Taiwan's TSMC, which succeeded in attracting Apple as its first 3nm customer, is expected to intensify. Industry insiders are paying close attention to whether Samsung Electronics, which produces cutting-edge chips using Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, can poach customers from TSMC, the 'industry leader' known for its stable yield (the ratio of good products among produced items).

According to foreign media on the 22nd, TSMC has secured Apple as the first customer for its 3nm process foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) and will begin mass production of 3nm chips next month. TSMC's 3nm process will be applied to Apple's self-designed M2 Pro chip. Devices equipped with the M2 Pro chip, such as the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro and the high-end Mac Mini, are expected to be released by the end of this year or the first half of next year.

With TSMC starting 3nm mass production next month, it will begin about three months later than Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics began initial mass production on June 30th based on the 3nm foundry process applying GAA technology for the first time in the world. GAA technology reduces transistor performance degradation caused by process miniaturization and improves data processing speed and power efficiency, making it a next-generation semiconductor core technology that advances beyond the existing FinFET technology.

TSMC plans to maintain the existing FinFET process up to 3nm this year and introduce the GAA process starting from 2nm in 2024, so Samsung Electronics appears to be two years ahead in the process roadmap. In fact, Samsung Electronics' 3nm GAA process reduces power consumption by 45% and improves performance by 23% compared to the 5nm FinFET process, showing numerical superiority over TSMC. TSMC's 3nm is known to increase integration density by 1.6 times, improve speed by 15%, and reduce power consumption by 30% compared to 5nm under the same conditions.

However, some view that Samsung Electronics has not completely surpassed TSMC in technology. TSMC's 3nm, although FinFET, is highly mature and stable. Currently, customers have no particular reason to choose Samsung's unproven 3nm GAA.

Non-memory customers prefer stable processes over aggressive adoption of new processes. Unlike memory, non-memory has low versatility, so it is important to reliably supply the ordered quantity at the desired time. In fact, Samsung's secured 3nm GAA customer is a Chinese application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) company related to cryptocurrency, and the volume is known to be minimal.

Ultimately, the key to the 3nm order competition will be who can improve yield faster and secure major customers such as Qualcomm and Nvidia. Kim Yangjae, a researcher at Daol Investment & Securities, diagnosed, "Securing stable yield for the first-generation GAA process as a reference will be crucial for acquiring new customers after the 2nm process in 2024."

Meanwhile, according to TrendForce, TSMC's foundry market share in the first quarter of this year was 53.6%, while Samsung Electronics ranked second with 16.3%.

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