Samsung Focuses on Fundamentals for Its 2nm Process as Competition Heats Up

As the 2nm era approaches, Samsung is exploring different strategies to regain a foothold in the foundry market. One such move is to strengthen its fundamentals for the next-generation process by prioritizing yield and cost-effectiveness until the next year. This will allow the company to win clients who demand stable and high-performance nodes at competitive prices.

Samsung’s strategic shift in the 2nm era

Samsung has recently shifted its focus to increasing the yield of the 2nm process rather than jumping to more advanced node development. As such, it has delayed its 1.4nm process mass production plan from 2027 to 2029. According to a report from Chosun, the Korean firm is now preparing for a long-term battle, as demand for 2nm is expected to remain strong for the next 3 to 4 years.

Previously, with 3nm and 4nm, Samsung’s goal was to pursue the title of being the first to release a new process. However, since 2nm will become the mainstream process for mobile, servers, and HPC for several years, there is no rush this time. Now, the focus is on improving process quality, even if it has to release cutting-edge tech later than its arch-rival TSMC.

The publication says Samsung is improving heat management and performance of the 2nm process faster than expected. Moreover, the firm will use gate-all-around (GAA) transistor technology, the same as 3nm chips. Industry analysts see this as a major advantage in stabilizing the technology. It will be interesting to see if the company can attract clients in the future by offering high-quality nodes at a lower cost.

However, its yield is still 20–30% lower than TSMC’s, meaning the company still faces challenges in mass production efficiency. Samsung plans to release its 2nm node and begin mass-producing its in-house 2nm Exynos 2600 mobile chip in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, TSMC aims to start mass production of its 2nm mobile AP for Apple during the same period.