[News] Speculations Arise on Samsung’s Partnership with Meta, Potentially Tapping into TSMC’s Client Base

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As Samsung’s foundry business closely trails TSMC, Economic Daily News has reported that Samsung is poised to secure orders for Meta’s next-gen AI chips, manufactured on a 2-nanometer process. If so, this may mark Samsung’s first 2nm customer, intensifying the rivalry with TSMC in the 2nm race.

According to The Korea Times, the potential collaboration between Meta and Samsung was discussed during Meta CEO Zuckerberg’s recent visit to South Korea.

The report cites anonymous officials stating that during Zuckerberg’s meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, he disclosed Meta’s reliance on TSMC. However, the current situation is described as “volatile” due to TSMC’s tight production capacity, which could potentially affect Meta’s supply in the long run.

Nevertheless, neither Meta nor South Korean officials have confirmed these rumors.

Currently, Meta has entrusted TSMC with the production of two AI chips. As per the Economic Daily News citing sources, the biggest challenge for Samsung’s foundry business lies in yield rates.

Previously, poor yield rates prompted Apple, Qualcomm, and Google to switch their orders to TSMC. If Meta indeed turns to Samsung for the next-generation AI chips, the key to the success of their collaboration still lies in yield rates.

As per Samsung’s previous roadmap, the 2-nanometer SF2 process is set to debut in 2025. Compared to the second-generation 3GAP process at 3 nanometers, it offers a 25% improvement in power efficiency at the same frequency and complexity, as well as a 12% performance boost at the same power consumption and complexity, while reducing chip area by 5%.

As stated in Samsung’s Foundry Forum (SFF) plan, Samsung will begin mass production of the 2nm process (SF2) in 2025 for mobile applications, expand to high-performance computing (HPC) applications in 2026, and further extend to the automotive sector and the expected 1.4nm process by 2027.

Read more

• [News] Samsung Secures 2-Nanometer Order from Japanese AI Startup Preferred Networks
• [News] Samsung’s Discount Strategy Challenges TSMC as the Battle for 2nm Orders Heats Up

(Photo credit: Samsung)