Samsung Foundry has reportedly secured a major 2nm customer, the US AI chip firm Ambarella, as the Korean giant seeks to gain market dominance.
wccftech.com, Sept. 15, 2024 –
Samsung's 2nm GAA Process Faces Yield Issues, Yet The Firm Still Has Massive Attention From The Markets
Samsung is currently navigating its way through the semiconductor industry since the firm's foundry division hasn't witnessed a "conclusive" breakthrough yet, especially for its higher-end processes. To add further confusion to the matter, reports state the Samsung hasn't managed to achieve "industry-standard" yield rates with its processes, notably the 3nm GAA, which goes to show that the Korean giant is experiencing a hard time in the markets. However, The Elec now reports that Samsung Foundry has secured a 2nm client, the renowned US semiconductor design company Ambarella.
After some research, we learned that Ambarella designs and develops video compression and image processing solutions, and by solutions, we mean dedicated SoCs. These chips are specifically used to analyze visual data from cameras, and through the use of AI, the chips by Ambarella are particularly used in automotive applications, along with surveillance systems as well. While the US firm isn't as big as some of the AI participants out there, it's definitely a win for Samsung, given that Ambarella is one of the first customers to secure a 2nm order.
In terms of Samsung's 2nm process, the firm is expected to tape out the chips by 2026 or 2027, with commercial production to occur in the same timeline as well. As far as the process itself is concerned, we haven't really seen many reports about it, apart from the fact that the Korean giant is still facing yield rate issues, but there is still optimism lying around for the firm, given that Samsung is working upon improving its output, through improving existing facilities and cooperating with clients.
The Korean giant has mainstream customers lined up for its processes, such as Qualcomm for its Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, as well as NVIDIA too, but given the current condition of the high-end processes, Samsung has a lot of work to do.