With significant market growth in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), 5/6G connectivity and automotive applications, demand for advanced semiconductors has increased dramatically, making innovation in semiconductor process technology critical to the business success of foundry customers. To that end, Samsung highlighted its commitment to bringing its most advanced process technology, 1.4-nanometer (nm), for mass production in 2027.

During the event, Samsung also outlined steps its Foundry Business is taking in order to meet customers’ needs, including: △foundry process technology innovation, △process technology optimization for each specific applications, △stable production capabilities and △customized services for customers.

▲ Dr. Siyoung Choi, president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, is giving his keynote speech at Samsung Foundry Forum 2022.

“The technology development goal down to 1.4nm and foundry platforms specialized for each application, together with stable supply through consistent investment are all part of Samsung’s strategies to secure customers’ trust and support their success,” said Dr. Siyoung Choi, president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “Realizing every customer’s innovations with our partners has been at the core of our foundry service.”

Showcasing Samsung’s Advanced Node Roadmap Down to 1.4nm in 2027

With the company’s success of bringing the latest 3nm process technology to mass production, Samsung will be further enhancing gate-all-around (GAA) based technology and plans to introduce the 2nm process in 2025 and 1.4nm process in 2027.

While pioneering process technologies, Samsung is also accelerating the development of 2.5D/3D heterogeneous integration packaging technology to provide a total system solution in foundry services.

Through continuous innovation, its 3D packaging X-Cube with micro-bump interconnection will be ready for mass production in 2024, and bump-less X-Cube will be available in 2026.

▲ Dr. Siyoung Choi, president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, is giving his keynote speech at Samsung Foundry Forum 2022.

Proportion of HPC, Automotive and 5G To Be More Than 50% by 2027

Samsung actively plans to target high-performance and low-power semiconductor markets such as HPC, automotive, 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).

To better meet customers’ needs, customized and tailored process nodes were introduced during this year’s Foundry Forum. Samsung will enhance its GAA-based 3nm process support for HPC and mobile, while further diversifying the 4nm process specialized for HPC and automotive applications.

For automotive customers specifically, Samsung is currently providing embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) solutions based on 28nm technology. In order to support automotive-grade reliability, the company plans to further expand process nodes by launching 14nm eNVM solutions in 2024 and adding 8nm eNVM in the future. Samsung has been mass producing 8nm RF following 14nm RF, and 5nm RF is currently in development.

‘Shell-First’ Operation Strategy To Respond to Customer Needs in a Timely Manner

Samsung plans to expand its production capacity for the advanced nodes by more than three times by 2027 compared to this year.

Including the new fab under construction in Taylor, Texas, Samsung’s foundry manufacturing lines are currently in five locations: Giheung, Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek in Korea; and Austin and Taylor in the United States.

At the event, Samsung detailed its ‘Shell-First’ strategy for capacity investment, building cleanrooms first irrespective of market conditions. With cleanrooms readily available, fab equipment can be installed later and set up flexibly as needed in line with future demand. Through the new investment strategy, Samsung will be able to better respond to customers’ demands.

Investment plans in a new ‘Shell-First’ manufacturing line in Taylor, following the first line announced last year, as well as potential expansion of Samsung’s global semiconductor production network were also introduced.

Expanding the SAFE Ecosystem To Strengthen Customized Services

Following the ‘Samsung Foundry Forum,’ Samsung will hold the ‘SAFE Forum’ (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) on October 4th. New foundry technologies and strategies with ecosystem partners will be introduced encompassing areas such as Electronic Design Automation (EDA), IP, Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT), Design Solution Partner (DSP) and the Cloud.

In addition to 70 partner presentations, Samsung Design Platform team leaders will introduce the possibility of applying Samsung’s processes such as Design Technology Co-Optimization for GAA and 2.5D/3DIC.

As of 2022, Samsung provides more than 4,000 IPs with 56 partners, and is also cooperating with nine and 22 partners in the design solution and EDA, respectively. It also offers cloud services with nine partners and packaging services with 10 partners.

Along with its ecosystem partners, Samsung provides integrated services that support solutions from IC design to 2.5D/3D packages.

Through its robust SAFE ecosystem, Samsung plans to identify new fabless customers by strengthening customized services with improved performance, rapid delivery and price competitiveness, while actively attracting new customers such as hyperscalers and start-ups.

Starting in the United States (San Jose) on October 3rd, the ‘Samsung Foundry Forum’ will be sequentially held in Europe (Munich, Germany) on the 7th, Japan (Tokyo) on the 18th and Korea (Seoul) on the 20th, through which customized solutions for each region will be introduced. A recording of the event will be available online from the 21st for those who were unable to attend in person.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced the launch of ‘Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) Cloud Design Platform (CDP)’ for fabless customers, in collaboration with Rescale, a leader in high performance computing (HPC) applications in the cloud.

The key highlight feature of Samsung foundry’s first SAFE Cloud Design Platform is that it provides a virtual environment to design chips in the cloud. By accessing this platform through the cloud, customers can immediately start designing at anytime and anywhere.

To maximize customers’ design convenience, SAFE CDP supports a very secure design condition that has verified with cloud companies. In addition, customers can utilize various Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools offered by multiple vendors such as Ansys, Cadence, Mentor, a Siemens business and Synopsys.

Gaonchips, one of Samsung Foundry’s Design Solution Partners, has already tested the SAFE CDP on its 14nm automotive project using Cadence’s Innovus Implementation System and has successfully reduced its design run-time by 30 percent compared to current on-premise execution.

“We expect that our innovative design platform co-developed in partnership with Rescale will play a crucial role for the fabless industry as it evolves into efficient cloud-based design environment,” said Jae-hong Park, executive vice president of Foundry Design Platform Development at Samsung Electronics. “We remain committed to our efforts to bolster the SAFE ecosystem and will continue to collaborate with our SAFE partners on developing innovative programs that will help deliver ease of use and greater design efficiency for customers.”

As designs move to advanced nodes and as transistor scaling occurs at each node, chip designs become more complex and computing power required for these designs have increased significantly, resulting in greater overhead time and cost to customers.

By adopting CDP, customers can reduce the burden of building their own server infrastructure, while flexibly utilizing additional computing power required for chip design and verification. Furthermore, they can take full advantage of Samsung’s diverse foundry ecosystem which includes EDA, intellectual property (IP), cloud, and design services offered by reputable partners.

“We are excited to be a partner of Samsung Foundry SAFE ecosystem,” said Joris Poort, founder and CEO of Rescale. “We share a common vision of a global design cloud platform that efficiently supports a broad ecosystem of technologies and services for EDA customers worldwide.”

To actively respond to the latest technology trends and lower the design barrier for developing competitive SoCs, Samsung launched the SAFE program in early 2018 and held the first SAFE Forum in the United States last year. More information on SAFE can be found here.

About Rescale
Rescale is the leader in enterprise big compute in the cloud. Rescale’s ScaleX^® multi-cloud platform, built on the most powerful high-performance computing infrastructure, seamlessly matches software applications with the best architecture in the cloud to run complex data processing and simulations. Rescale partners with the largest cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, providing services enterprise in automotive, aerospace, defense, and semiconductor industry. For more information on Rescale, visit www.rescale.com.