After Liang Mengsong joined SMIC, the gap with Samsung and TSMC widened
As we all know, in the first half of 2022, Samsung announced that it had mass-produced 3nm chips, ahead of TSMC, while it still uses the most advanced Gaafet transistors, which are more advanced than the aging FinFET transistor technology used by TSMC.
Samsung is very keen to make a comeback on the 3nm process and surpass TSMC to become a global leader in chip foundry.
From the perspective of Samsung and TSMC's progress and technology, Samsung has indeed gone further because TSMC is actually half a year behind Samsung, with mass production not until the end of 2022, and TSMC is using FinFETs, which is a more advanced technology.
Now that Samsung's 3nm is half a year ahead and the technology is more advanced, has Samsung's wish to catch up with TSMC or even surpass TSMC in the 3nm field has come true?
The results may be embarrassing for Samsung, because by the fourth quarter of 2023, TSMC's 3nm has generated nearly NT$100 billion in revenue (about 22 billion yuan), while Samsung's 3nm is just a grain of gold that has not yet been publicly used by customers.
According to the data, in the March 2023 quarter, TSMC's total revenue was 5467NT$300 million, of which the 3nm process accounts for 6%, equivalent to NT$32.8 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, TSMC's revenue was NT$625.5 billion, of which 3nm accounted for 15%, equivalent to NT$93.8 billion, contributing NT$126.6 billion (about NT$29 billion) in these two quarters.
The 3nm chips that are currently being made public are actually Apple chips, and all Apple chips are supplied to TSMC foundries.
And Samsung's customer Qualcomm, is using the 4nm process, and even Samsung's latest mobile phone chip is also a 4nm process, not a 3nm process, can you imagine, Samsung can actually 3nm particles without harvest, and there are no customers using it yet.
Some time ago, it was reported that Samsung's 3nm yield rate was ridiculously low, so no customers used it. Of course, it is unclear whether this news is true or not, but Samsung 3nm has no customers, and it is estimated to be true.
When it comes to 3 nanometers, Samsung's desire to surpass TSMC has been delayed for a long time, and it is estimated that it can only hope for 2 nanometers and more than 1 nanometer, but guess what, the further it drags on, the more difficult it will be for Samsung to surpass TSMC, what do you think?
Because this is not only the competition of technology, but also the comprehensive competition of customers, brands, revenue, production capacity and other levels, and Samsung obviously has no TSMC's Liang Mengsong, without Liang Mengsong, the first to deal with 14 nanometers of Samsung, since Liang Mengsong left, the gap between Samsung and TSMC is getting bigger and bigger...