So, while the company may be having some success at more mature nodes it remains far behind the market leader TSMC, which is reporting yields of over 90 per cent when it comes to 3nm.
This will be viewed as a major setback for Samsung and already several leading technology companies are now either shifting or looking to shift products aways from the South Korean giant. It has been suggested that Google’s Tensor G5 is being moved to TSMC’s 3nm and that it has locked in Tensor chip production for the next 3 to 5 years.
Both Qualcomm and AMD are also said to be leaning towards TSMC, drawn by what is described as its solid 90%+ yield at 3nm. Others including Apple, NVIDIA and MediaTek are all expected to use TSMC’s third-generation 3nm (N3P) process, with plans to shift to 2nm starting in 2026.
Samsung is not only struggling with its 3nm process, but in both the 5nm and 7nm segments competition is growing from China’s SMIC, which is said to be quietly gaining ground and has been winning a number of key orders.
All told the costs and technological challenges faced by Samsung are growing, with TSMC continuing to ‘cut a dash’ in this space.
