As part of its strategy to become the largest semiconductor company by 2030 and outperform TSMC, its main competitor in the market, Samsung announced the start of construction of a 5nm chip production line. The company plans to launch mass production in the second half of 2021.
Earlier, the company announced that it intends to invest $ 115 billion in increasing production in this area. Samsung’s investment in the construction of this facility is $ 8.1 billion. The commissioning of this line will increase Samsung’s production capacity, in total, to seven production lines located in South Korea and the United States.
Samsungâs main competitor, TSMC already produces 5nm chips. While Samsung plans to start production of 5-nm chips in the second half of 2020. This will allow Samsung to fight to increase its market share from the current 18% and compete with TSMC for the supply of chips to brands such as AMD, Nvidia, Apple and Qualcomm.
Samsung starts building a new 5nm semiconductor production line
ES Jung, president and director of foundry operations at Samsung Electronics, said:
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This new production facility will increase Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities for the sub-5nm process. In addition, it will allow us to quickly respond to the growing demand for EUV-based solutions. We remain committed to meeting the needs of our customers through active investment and the recruitment of talent. This will allow us to continue to innovate while promoting solid growth in Samsung’s foundry activities.
In recent times, there have been reports that the U.S. government strongly wants TSMC to start its advanced process production in the U.S. However, for multiple reasons, this is not just a simple process as building a factory on U.S. soil. Nevertheless, it appears that the U.S. government is offering a good support to TSMC and the chipmaker has now made an official announcement. TSMC officially announced today that it will build and operate an advanced semiconductor factory in Arizona, with mutual understanding and support from the US federal government.
According to reports, the Arizona plant will use TSMCâs 5nm technology for semiconductor wafer manufacturing. The foundry will have a 20,000 semiconductor wafers production capacity monthly thus directly creating more than 1,600 high-tech professional positions. It will also create thousands of jobs in the semiconductor ecosystem in the U.S.
According to TSMCâs schedule, the U.S. chip factory will start construction in 2021. However, it hopes to commence production in 2024. TSMCâs total expenditures on this project (including capital expenditures) is approximately $ 12 billion between 2021 and 2029.
