With Samsung’s 5nm EUV chip production currently underway, the Korean giant will want to one-up TSMC with an advanced manufacturing process. The company is reported to skip the 4nm node altogether and directly jump from 5nm to 3nm. However, to bring its plan to fruition, some serious investment is needed. It turns out Samsung may already be eyeing that; in the form of a $10 billion chip development facility in Austin, Texas.
No Word on When Facility Will Be Completed, but Samsung Could Commence Operations From 2023 if Everything Goes Smoothly
The location for the $10 billion 3nm chip facility is a peculiar one. It’s the same city where Samsung abandoned in-house development of its custom cores, and it looks to be the place where the company wants to take on TSMC in the chip business. Unfortunately, Samsung could already be trailing behind its biggest rival, as TSMC has reportedly invested $20 billion for its 3nm chip facility.
There are also reports that Apple secured the initial batch of 3nm chips for its iPhone, iPad, and Macs, so Samsung has already lost a lucrative customer before chip development has already started by both companies. However, Samsung can still appease other clients like Qualcomm and MediaTek. Previous info stated that both Samsung and Qualcomm secured an $850 million deal to handle chip making for both the Snapdragon 888 and the Snapdragon X60 5G modem.
It’s possible Samsung’s offer was too good for Qualcomm to refuse, and in the same manner, we could see Samsung obtain more customers in the future by making them competitive offers. However, that’s not even close to Samsung’s ambitions, as the company reportedly eyes a mammoth $115 billion investment by 2030 to gain a lead in the chip development space. As for the $10 billion chip facility in Austin, Texas, plans may be in their preliminary stages right now.
With 3nm EUV chips even more difficult to produce, we don’t see the facility commencing operations before 2023, and by then, TSMC would have already started its own production. Regardless, we’ll continue to provide updates on Samsung’s plans and update our readers accordingly, so stay tuned.
News Source: ITHome
