South Korea's Samsung has recently shown strong confidence in the field of advanced semiconductor technology. The company's executives expressed high optimism about the development progress of its 2-nanometer GAA (Gate-All-Around) process. Song Hyun-jong, president of rival SK hynix, also emphasized that this manufacturing technology will become a "key turning point." Currently, wafer mass production of 2nm GAA process technology has been launched in late September, and the first chip using this technology is the upcoming Samsung self-developed SoC-Exynos 2600.
According to the Chosun Ilbo report, in a meeting on semiconductor industry issues chaired by Kim Yong-beom, chief policy officer of the Presidential Office, Song Jae-hyuk, president and chief technology officer of Samsung's equipment solutions division, gave many positive comments about the 2-nanometer GAA process. Compared with previous years, Samsung's wafer foundry business has performed poorly, allowing TSMC to capture most of the market. It seems that Samsung has finally changed. The report pointed out that Samsung has significantly increased its 2nm GAA yield target from the original 50% to 70%, and is expected to achieve it by the end of 2025.
The report quoted a person close to the matter as saying that these remarks made at a high-level meeting can be interpreted as: Samsung is successfully achieving its planned 2nm process yield and chip performance goals. Song Jae-hyuk hinted at his ambitions at the meeting, hoping that through the success of the 2nm GAA node, he can eventually win the first place in the global foundry market. However, he also admitted that the company needs huge support from the government when catching up with TSMC and dealing with specific technical and human resource challenges.
In addition, Samsung stated that it has made necessary efforts to ensure its competitiveness in the next generation of nodes. Including, Samsung has completed the basic design of the second-generation 2nm GAA process. At the same time, the third-generation 2-nanometer GAA process, code-named SF2P+, is also expected to be developed within the next two years.
As for Samsung’s first chip using 2nm GAA technology, it will be Samsung’s self-developed SoC-Exynos 2600. Preliminary internal testing results show that the Exynos 2600 performs exceptionally well. It handily beat rivals Apple's A19 Pro in multiple tests, as well as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. More notably, test data reveals that its AI performance is six times higher than the A19 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. However, while actual results from commercialized products may vary, the industry generally expects Samsung's 2nm GAA technology to deliver substantial benefits.