Samsung announced its 2nm plan, competing with TSMC and Intel, who is ahead?
As the semiconductor process enters the nano stage, international competition is becoming increasingly fierce, especially the 2nm process is regarded as a breakthrough in the next generation of process technology, and global manufacturers have invested in research and development. The move comes after TSMC and Intel Corp. announced that they would not start competing for the 2 nm process until 2025 in order to gain market share.
In addition to TSMC and Intel, Samsung also announced its own 2 nm chip project some time ago. According to South Korea, Samsung intends to start manufacturing of the 2 nm process in South Korea by 2025 and invest 50 billion won to build a large 2 nm process factory by 2047.
This means that Samsung has to face TSMC and Intel. So, which three companies will emerge victorious in this brutal race?
Below 2 nm, coupled with the follow-up process, the technical level of these three companies is about the same, and it is really hard to say who will die. However, this issue can be addressed from three perspectives.
i.According to the contrast of technical forces.
2 The core of the NM process controversy lies in the strength of science and technology. Samsung, TSMC, and Intel are the world's leading semiconductor companies, each with its own R&D team and intellectual property rights.
Samsung has many years of semiconductor manufacturing experience and technology accumulation, especially in the past few years, and it has made great progress in process manufacturing. Samsung has adopted GAA since 3 nm, which gives Samsung a head start, and the 2 nm process is essential, so Samsung has some upper hand in this regard.
TSMC is the world's largest foundry and has always been at the forefront of the world in terms of technology. Taking the 3 nm process as an example, although Samsung was the first in the world to mass-produce and use the most advanced GAA process, TSMC took advantage of the process advantage and continued to beat Samsung's 3nm process with Fenfield, so as to gain more customers.
According to TSMC, the 2 nm process will use nanochip structure and back-end power supply, which is expected to increase performance by 10%-15% at the same power and reduce by 25%-30% at the same computing rate.
Intel also has a strong strength in process technology and is expected to be the first company to enter the 2 nm process. Intel Corporation aims to complete 1. by 20248 nm process, which will surpass TSMC and Samsung's 2nm process technology.
In addition, Intel is also working on its own independent development of IP cores to improve its performance and reduce power consumption. The 18 A process also uses the Rainbow field-effect transistor architecture, GAA transistor, and back-end energy transfer processes. The 18 A process also uses the Rainbow field-effect transistor architecture, GAA transistor, and back-end energy transfer processes. This approach can increase the logic and clock rates while reducing power consumption. There is no doubt that this is an important breakthrough in the 2 nm process.
From a technological point of view, each of these three methods has its advantages, but it is difficult to determine which one is better. Perhaps, in the long run, Intel is the real winner.
ii.Productivity vs. efficiency.
In addition to process capacity, product yield and yield are also the most important considerations for consumers when purchasing products. After the 2 nm process enters the commercial stage, the yield and yield of the process will have an important impact on the company's profitability and market competitiveness.
In contrast, Samsung's leading position in production capacity and yield is not obvious. Samsung is a well-developed semiconductor company, with a complete industrial chain and first-class chain, and has a strong ability to control the entire manufacturing process and quality. However, the limited yield of 5nm has led to a decrease in the number of users.
However, in order to improve productivity, Samsung is also increasing its investment in production facilities and processes. At present, the yield of 3 nm has exceeded 60%, and new processes are being developed to improve the yield. Perhaps when Qualcomm sells 2nm chips to OEMs like Samsung, the 2nm process will be a huge step forward.
TSMC has a deep accumulation and strength in productivity and productivity. TSMC uses world-class manufacturing equipment and processing technology to optimize each process to ensure efficient and low manufacturing costs.
In order to better meet the needs of users, TSMC also has long-term partnerships with several chip R&D institutions to increase production capacity. For example, Apple will order all new process equipment within two years and provide TSMC with more advanced process equipment.
Intel has its own production capacity. The company attaches great importance to the production and research and development of products, and uses the most advanced production equipment and technology. In addition, Intel is using a number of new technologies to improve the effectiveness and productivity of its work.
Intel has indeed reduced its use of third-party manufacturers due to performance issues with the 2nm process, so there is not much news yet. What we know is that Kissinger once claimed in public that the process of Intel's 18 A process will exceed TSMC's N2 process, and it will be impossible to surpass it within two years.
In short, in terms of revenue, from the available information, TSMC has the advantage of being a first-mover. But the other two sides may not necessarily lose.
3. Review the market needs and the operation of the system.
With the rise of emerging technologies such as 5G and the Internet of Things, there is an increasing demand for high-performance, low-energy integrated circuits. In this case, which enterprise can adapt to the needs of customers to the greatest extent and be able to effectively control it has become an important reason for the enterprise to win in the future competition.
Samsung, TSMC, and Intel are aware of this and are working closely with these companies. Samsung already has partnerships with many chip design manufacturers, TSMC has close ties with many of the world's chip design giants, and Intel is also focusing on cooperation with PC and server manufacturers.
TSMC has strong first-chain management capabilities and abundant resources. At the same time, the company also maintains good cooperation with many first-class businessmen from all over the world, so that it can integrate resources and effectively control costs in the first chain. Companies such as Samsung and Intel are also leaders in the industry and have extensive practical experience.
In this comparison, TSMC has a slight advantage in technology and strength, but there is not much gap between Samsung and Intel.
Overall, the battle for 2 nm has begun, in which Samsung, TSMC and Intel will be the first of the three. But I guess there is probably no winner in this game.