The data points from this article behind a paywall.
- Samsung announced it would become the world's top chipmaking foundry
- three years after that announcement, top rival TSM C has captured a larger market share, prompting Samsung to replace several executives
- June 30, 2022: Samsung said it had started to mass produce 3-nm chips, the first company to achieve that feat -- it appeared the conglomerate had moved a step ahead in the advanced chip race
- but the announcement stopped short of telling the full story
- who are the clients for the 3-nm chip? Samsung won't say
- indications are that the 3-nm production will be small in scale
- customers are likely to be cryptominers in China
- Samsung problems:
- started mass producing 5-nm chips in 2Q20 but was unable to raise the yield rate
- was not able to provide stable supplies of smartphone chips to Qualcomm, its largest client
- Qualcomm expanded its outsourcing volume from TSMC last autumn (2021)
- Samsung lost orders
- TSMC started mass producing 5-nm chips about the same time Samsung started producing 5-nm chips
- TSMC became the sole contract manufacturer for Apple's CPUs
- Apple has very quick turnaround times due to high sales
- other than TSMC, no other operator is able to deliver on that front
- 5-nm:
- TSMC has greatly expanded it lead
- 1Q22: TSMC captured 53.6 percent of the foundry market
- Samsung: a distant second at 16.3 percent
- 3-nm:
- TSMC is preparing to mass produce 3-nm chips by the end of 2022
- the company is setting up production sites in Hsinchu and Taiman, both on Taiwan
- Intel has temporarily stepped back from the race but will eventually re-engage
- smart phones:
- Samsung is a competitor with Apple
- Apple can't trust contracting for chips from Samsung
- TSMC does not compete with Apple; TSMC does not make cell phones, but Samsung does
No comments:
Post a Comment