[News] Samsung Foundry Reportedly in Talks With Chinese Carmakers Like BYD for 2nm, 4nm Autonomous Driving SoCs

Samsung Foundry appears poised to win new business from China’s leading automakers. According to Seoul Economic Daily, industry sources say Samsung is in talks with several major Chinese carmakers, including BYD, to manufacture autonomous driving system-on-chip (SoC) devices using its 2nm and 4nm processes. If the deals materialize, Samsung would gain customers larger than NIO, which already relies on Samsung’s 5nm process for its autonomous driving chips.

As the report notes, Chinese automakers are turning to Samsung Electronics in part because of the constraints of China’s domestic foundry industry. Although SMIC, the country’s largest foundry, operates a 7nm-class process, industry observers believe it still trails Samsung Electronics and TSMC by a considerable margin in the advanced nodes required for next-generation autonomous driving chips.

The report further indicates that SMIC’s most advanced 7nm capacity is largely occupied by strategic customers such as Huawei, leaving much of its remaining production concentrated in 14nm and more mature nodes. This limits its ability to meet the needs of Chinese automakers, as fully autonomous driving systems require AI chips built on advanced processes such as 4nm or even 2nm.

Samsung’s 4nm process has reached stable yields, while its leading-edge 2nm node, based on gate-all-around (GAA) technology, has demonstrated sufficient manufacturing capability to secure production orders for Tesla’s next-generation A15 and AI6 chips, according to the report.

With Samsung reportedly in talks with major Chinese automakers, the report says industry observers believe Chinese Big Tech firms could also emerge as Samsung Foundry customers. Companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu are investing heavily in in-house AI chip development and data center semiconductor supply. Among them, Baidu, which has previously collaborated with Samsung Electronics, is seen as one of the most likely candidates for future foundry partnerships.

BYD Unveils China’s First Self-Developed 4nm Autonomous Driving Chip

Meanwhile, EE Times China reported that BYD on May 28 unveiled Xuanji A3, China’s first self-developed intelligent 4nm driving chip, which fully supports L3 and L4 autonomous driving. The company has launched more than 2,000 chip products, including 567 automotive-grade chips, and has invested over RMB 100 billion in semiconductors, with four R&D centers, five wafer fabs, and more than 7,000 chip engineers.

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(Photo credit: Samsung)