While Samsung Foundry became the first company in the world to start manufacturing 3nm chips in late 2022, no big-name client used its process node. Some rumors even claimed it to be a doomed technology. However, things might be improving for the company, as AMD is rumored to use Samsung's 3nm GAA process node for its next-generation chips.
AMD could use Samsung Foundry's 3nm GAA process for its next-gen chips
According to some reports, AMD CEO Lisa Su hinted in her keynote at the ITF World 2024 expo that the company might adopt the Gate All Around (GAA) process for its 3nm chips. Since TSMC's 3nm process doesn't use the GAA architecture for transistors, while Samsung Foundry does, it is most likely that AMD will use Samsung Foundry's second-generation 3nm process (SF3 / 3GAP).
Compared to the existing FinFET technology, GAA technology uses a newer transistor architecture, allowing more current drive and reducing power leakage. Hence, chips made using this technology should theoretically be faster and more power-efficient. However, no consumer-grade 3nm chip that uses this technology has been released. So, it is hard to tell whether those improvements can be seen in real life.
If AMD uses Samsung Foundry's 3nm process, it will offer a huge boost to the South Korean firm and legitimize its brand-new process node. More clients can then adopt the technology to fabricate their chips. Some reports claimed that Qualcomm will likely use Samsung Foundry's 3nm process next year.
Samsung is already supplying AMD with HBM3 memory chips for the latter's AI accelerators. The South Korean firm uses AMD's RDNA architecture to design its in-house Xclipse GPUs for mobile chips. If AMD adopts Samsung Foundry's 3nm process, the relationship between the two companies will improve. Moreover, it will help Samsung catch up with its rival TSMC.
