Unleashing Innovation: SAMSUNG'S Bold Move into AI Chip Technology

South Korean tech giant Samsung made several announcements in late January that promise to change the way everyone from AI developers to HPC users will build their systems in the near and distant future. Under the banner ‘Empowering the AI Revolution’, Samsung invited the world to learn more about their breakthroughs and their new foundry service, which will be a game-changer in the industry. Let’s take a closer look at what Samsung is doing to drive a technological revolution.

Samsung's Strategic Shift: Beyond Mobile Processors

Once the dominant supplier of processors for mobile devices, Samsung Foundry is taking a gamble that the future for its company and its industry is about control units and graphical processing units for AI and HPC. It has good reason for betting on the deluge. In the past year, Samsung Foundry’s business in AI has grown by a whopping 80 percent as multiple applications converge on the technology. This is the type of business that Samsung Foundry needs if it is to meet its stated goal of more than half of its foundry business coming from applications beyond mobile.

Samsung Foundry Forum: A Glimpse into the Future

The 2-nanometre (nm) and 4nm process nodes known as SF2Z and SF4U wowed the crowd at Samsung’s annual Samsung Foundry Forum with the usual bluster of trade shows: ‘We are proud to announce our latest technological advancements, 2nd-generation backside power delivery network (BSPDN) in 2nm and 4nm process nodes.’ The ‘revolutionary BSPDN enhances PPA … [enabling] a new era of innovation to address various industry applications, especially for high performance computing (HPC) and AI chips.’ SF2Z will be deployed in 2027.

Pushing the Boundaries: GAA Technology and Beyond

Samsung’s relentless drive for innovation is demonstrated by the almost simultaneous launch of GAA – gate-all-around technology – as an alternative to and, in the long run, successor to the sadly of FETs (field-effect transistors). Samsung started 3nm GAA node mass production in 2022 and already has plans for a second-generation 3nm node, SF3, to be launched later this year. By 2027, Samsung plans nodes of as low as 1.4nm and below.

A Revolutionary Turnkey Solution: SAMSUNG AI Solutions

The age of silos is over. Samsung’s announcement of Samsung AI Solutions stands out as a gamechanger. The company’s foundry platform brings together ASIC solutions from Samsung Foundry + memory and logic solutions from Samsung’s Foundry, Memory and Advanced Package (AVP) business units to provide AI chip solutions customised exactly to the customer’s needs for optimal performance with fewer power requirements, as well as a smooth supply chain. It also claims to cut at least 40 percent of time to market for its customers.

Samsung AI Solutions: Tailored for the AI Revolution

And, as AI is constantly evolving at a blistering pace, there can be no single technologies or manufacturing processes that will fulfil all the needs of all types of AI. From next-generation chips for large language models such as ChatGPT, to vision processing in drones, to AI accelerators in datacentres, Samsung intends to have the process nodes to serve the industry. The opportunities for growth in the international foundry market look encouraged. Samsung is armed and ready to help usher in the AI revolution.

The Backbone of Innovation: About SAMSUNG

Samsung, which remains the world’s largest memory chip producer, the world’s second-largest contract chipmaker, and a global powerhouse in semiconductor manufacturing, is continuing to push for technological progress. Its new AI chip technology and turn poorkey foundry service continue to innovate at a pace and set a direction for others to follow. As Samsung redefines the semiconductor landscape in the name of AI and HPC, its impact promises to be marvellous, visionary and unstoppable.

The company’s aggressive AI chip development and its transition to offering turnkey solutions not only shows Samsung’s ambition to solidify its role in the semiconductor industry, but holds the future of technology as well. As we always say, this is our tomorrow.’