Tag: manufacturing

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung starts production on 3nm chips, boasts performance gains over 5nm

Samsung announced that it started producing 3nm chips, beating rival TSMC to the punch.

TSMC, which makes chips for Apple devices like the iPhone and Mac, leads the market in contract chip production. However, the company isn’t expected to start mass-producing 3nm chips until the second half of 2022.

Samsung, however, unveiled its 3nm fabrication process in a press release. According to the South Korean company, its new 3nm process is 45 percent more power-efficient than its previous 5nm process. Moreover, the 3nm process offers a 23 percent performance gain and uses 16 percent less surface area.

Going forward, Samsung hopes to further push 3nm by reducing power consumption and size by 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in its second generation of the process. The company also plans for second-gen 3nm to increase performance by 30 percent.

Initially, Samsung will produce 3nm chips for “high performance, low power computing” and eventually plans to bring 3nm to mobile.

Samsung’s facility in Hwaseong, South Korea, will produce 3nm chips to start, followed by the Pyeongtaek facility. Samsung could eventually produce 3nm chips at its Texas chip plant, but the facility won’t start mass manufacturing until 2024.

Header image credit: Samsung

Source: Samsung Via: Bloomberg, The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Intel purchases first next-gen chip-making tool set to arrive in 2024

Intel announced that it ordered the first of a new generation of chip-making machines from ASML, a Dutch manufacturer of photolithography systems.

The purchase is Intel’s latest move in a larger effort to get back on top of the chip game. Each of the new ASML machines, dubbed ‘Twinscan EXE:5200,’ cost on average $340 million USD (about $425 million CAD) and should arrive in 2024. It’s considered critical to advancing processor progress. One of the main ways chipmakers advance processors is through miniaturization. By shrinking chip circuitry, manufacturers can fit more into processors, enabling them to do more work.

Photolithography, which literally means “writing on stone with light” according to CNET, is core to the process of miniaturizing chip circuitry. Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have both surpassed Intel in this regard thanks to the use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. The shorter wavelength of EUV allows manufacturers to inscribe finer patterns on silicon wafers.

CNET reports that Intel was late to the EUV game, but the company is now working to correct that. The company expects to start selling its first EUV chips in 2023 with processors based on the ‘Intel 4’ node — the company’s somewhat confusing new name for its 7nm process.

The new Twinscan EXE:5200 machines are scheduled to be delivered in 2024 for Intel operations beginning in 2025. The machine uses an advanced EUV tool with a high numeric aperture (NA) to inscribe even finer patterns on silicon wafers.

In simpler terms, that means we’re still several years out from seeing Intel’s more advanced and hopefully more competitive NA EUV process (likely as part of the Intel 18A process slated for 2025). Intel is only just ramping up EUV with Intel 4, which was originally supposed to launch in 2021 but was infamously delayed (and renamed).

With Samsung and TSMC already using EUV for 5nm and even 4nm (with Samsung’s new Exynos 2200), there’s still a clear gap between the companies. Even though Intel’s first in line for NA EUV technology, it’s still behind on current EUV. And it’s not like either Samsung or TSMC will sit idle and let Intel catch up. The next few years will certainly be interesting in the chip market and I expect competition will heat up as Intel chases the top spot.

Source: CNET

Image credit: Intel

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Mobile Syrup

Electronics manufacturers halt production amid China’s mandated power shutdowns

The ongoing chip shortages plaguing smartphones, computers, game consoles and cars will likely get worse as China plans to shut off power to reduce emissions.

According to Tom’s Hardware, the country plans to temporarily shut off power in several major manufacturing hubs, and do so on a scheduled basis going forward. The mandated power shutdowns are reportedly an effort to reduce emissions as China shifts away from coal-powered electricity. The power shutdowns will likely impact electronics companies like Apple, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and more.

As of 2019, as much as 65 percent of the electricity in China came from coal. Although China has promised the UN that it would not build any more new coal-fueled power plants and would increase reliance on other energy sources, the transition will take time. With coal prices surging, China has ordered the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong to cut total energy consumption. That’s why local governments plan to cut electricity supply to industrial customers and malls for several days each month.

The cuts will impact some companies more than others. For example, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm have production facilities in China that have received orders to stop production for several days in late September. Eson Precision Engineering, a mechanical parts supplier for Apple and Tesla, received orders to halt production from September 26th to 30th.

However, Reuters notes that the restrictions won’t apply to manufacturers with continuous production cycles. That includes TSMC and UMC — TSMC makes chips for Apple, AMD, Nvidia and several other companies.

Apple’s leading manufacturing partner, Foxconn, also shut down several facilities on Monday, according to Nikkei. Pegatron, another iPhone assembler, also had to shut down but has continued operations using diesel generators. Other manufacturing facilities are considering night shifts to make up for the lost time from power cuts.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen what impact, if any, the mandated power outages have on emissions. As Tom’s Hardware points out, most manufacturers will find ways around the restrictions, such as implementing night shifts, using generators or boosting production at other facilities not impacted by the limits. In other words, companies will shift power consumption to different times if they can, which could mean the mandated outages won’t have a significant impact on emissions.

Source: Tom’s Hardware, Reuters, Nikkei