According to ComputerBase’s news, based on news in Korean media, Samsung decided to call the updated version of its 3nm chip production technology “2nm process”. At least officially, it increases the company’s competitiveness relative to its main rivals in the form of TSMC and Intel.

In the semiconductor industry, the motto “less is better” applies. Against the background of the boom in artificial intelligence technologies, the issue of developing more efficient and modern computing components has become more important than ever: every player in the industry is looking to make money on this, and Samsung is no exception. Samsung’s semiconductor roadmap has been approved and made public. Testing of the first 3nm GAA process started in 2022. Initially, the yield of suitable products was very low, but the company managed to stabilize it at 60%. Samsung plans to release an updated version of this technology, previously called SF3, this year.

As Korean media reported, the updated process will now be labeled as a “2nm product”; Production will expand in the second half of the year, as previously planned for the second generation GAA technology, but this information has not yet been officially confirmed. yet. This immediately raises many questions. Recently it became known that Samsung will help Arm optimize processors for 2nm technology, and now it is unclear whether the current SF3 or the “honest” 2nm is meant. The deployment of SF2 technology was previously planned for 2025; does this have a rename time? The SF2 process was supposed to be followed by SF1.4 so that SF2 could turn into SF1.8.

Meanwhile, Intel is already preparing to market its own 2nm process (Intel 20A); Maybe that’s why Samsung had to take a step. In a highly competitive environment, semiconductor contractors must show potential customers that they have the same or better technology as their competitors, regardless of what they actually are. Samsung had a two-year head start as the first company to switch to GAA transistors, and the 3nm process did not actually provide tangible advantages to the Korean company. In response, TSMC has only strengthened its lead. Next up could be Intel, which hopes to replace Samsung as the world’s second semiconductor contractor by 2030, and the Korean company needs to react.