Samsung will soon begin the mass production of third-gen 4nm semiconductor chips

A new report suggests that the South Korean tech company is all set to start the mass production of the third-generation 4nm chips. Reportedly, the company will begin production in the first half of 2023. 4nm chip is one of the main foundry products under the ultra-micro fabrication process sector. Due to tech advancements and improvements in performance and power consumption, the company has succeeded to counteract one of the major problems presented during the early stages of the process. Thus, stabilizing the overall process.

These improvements helped the company to enhance the production of chips. In this way, the company will be able to attract large commercial clients. The 4nm chips will be based on the 2.3-generation process. Besides this, it is the first time that the company has detailed the mass production timeline of a 4nm follow-up version.

The previous version of the 4nm chips featured improved performance and low power consumption. in contrast to the SF4E chip, the 4nm chip occupied a small area. Besides this, the company faced difficulties in managing the yield of chips. Due to this reason, the company missed its largest customer i.e., Qualcomm to TSMC. Furthermore, the company has also missed another big deal from Tesla. For these reasons, the improvements in the 3^rd-gen 4nm chip production were vital for Samsung.

Samsung must improve its chip yield further to compete with TSMC

As soon as the yield hit 60%, the company enhanced the production capacity, claims some industry analysts. However, the current production capacity is still low in contrast to TSMC. Since TSMC lies in the 70-80% range of production capacity. Besides this, some sources claim that TSMC is continuously improving its yield. Moreover, TSMC is mass-producing the 4nm chips.

Currently, the advanced semiconductor process uses the 3nm process. However, the main products are built on 4nm and 5nm chips. A report from Counterpoint Research indicates that 4nm and 5nm chip sales accounted for 22% of total sales. They were comparatively more in contrast to the sales of 6nm and 7nm chips which accounted for only 16%.

TSMC is using its Arizona facility to manufacture 4nm chips. It will begin mass production in 2024. To combat this, Samsung is also constructing a 4nm production line at its Texas plant in the US.