Samsung’s flagship mobile processor, the Exynos 2400, produced using the 4LPP+ process technology, currently boasts a yield rate of approximately 60%, as per sources cited by TechNews. While this figure falls short of competitors, notably TSMC’s N4P process technology with yields surpassing 70%, it represents a significant improvement from Samsung’s own 25% yield rate over a year ago.

Samsung’s Exynos 2400 flagship mobile processor is the company’s first to utilize Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP). Samsung claims that FOWLP technology enhances heat resistance by 23% and boosts multicore performance by 8%. Consequently, the Exynos 2400 mobile processor delivers commendable performance in the latest 3DMark Wild Life benchmark tests.

In fact, Samsung previously announced plans to commence mass production of the SF3 chip in the second half of 2024, followed by the introduction of its 2-nanometer process technology between 2025 and 2026.

Industry sources cited in the report also indicate that Samsung’s foundry business has begun trial production for its second-generation 3-nanometer process technology, SF3. Furthermore, the company aims to increase its yield rate to over 60% within the next six months.

It is noteworthy that Samsung’s 3nm technology is highly aggressive compared to TSMC’s approach, which will transition to GAA transistors with its 2nm process. Samsung’s first-generation 3nm process already incorporates GAA transistor technology, specifically the MBCFET (Multi-Bridge Channel Field-Effect Transistor), known as SF3E, or 3GAE technology.

As per WeChat account ic211ic cited sources in the report, Samsung’s 3nm GAA technology utilizes wider nanosheets compared to the narrow nanowire GAA technology, offering higher performance and energy efficiency. With the 3nm GAA technology, Samsung can adjust the channel width of nanosheet transistors to optimize power consumption and performance, meeting diverse customer requirements.

Additionally, the flexibility of GAA design is highly advantageous for Design-Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO), contributing to achieving better Power, Performance, and Area (PPA) advantages.

In comparison to Samsung’s 5nm process, the first-generation 3nm process reduces power consumption by 45%, enhances performance by 23%, and decreases chip area by 16%. The upcoming second-generation 3nm process is expected to further reduce power consumption by 50%, boost performance by 30%, and reduce chip area by 35%.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

Industry sources cited by Reuters have revealed that Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, is slowing down the production of its high-end Mate 60 series smartphone due to surging demand in the AI chip market and production constraints. Instead, the company has decided to prioritize the production of AI chips from its Ascend series, diverging from the Kirin chips used in the Mate 60 series.

According to a report by Reuters on January 5th, Huawei is utilizing a plant to simultaneously produce chips from the Ascend series and the Kirin series. The current plan is to prioritize the production of Ascend chips over Kirin chips, although the exact starting date for this arrangement has not been disclosed.

On the other hand, the production volume of Huawei’s Mate 60 series, launched in August last year, has been hampered by low chip yields. Reportedly, Huawei is actively working to improve chip yields, and it is hoped that the mentioned production adjustment will be a short-term measure.

It’s worth noting that many Huawei products have recently been affected by production bottlenecks. The computation components for Huawei’s assisted driving system have encountered production issues due to shortages of components.

This has led to delays in the delivery of flagship models from Changan Automobile, Chery Automobile, and Seres. Changan Automobile and Chery Automobile have already filed complaints and are currently in negotiations with Huawei.

Reports have indicated that since 2019, the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on Huawei, citing national security concerns, thereby cutting off Huawei’s access to advanced chip manufacturing equipment and technology and weakening its smartphone division. In response, Huawei denies posing any security risks and is actively working to rebuild its business.

In addition, Bloomberg previously reported that the Chinese government has also been directly investing to assist Huawei in building its chip supply chain since 2019, creating an exclusive supply chain for Huawei in response to the tighten restrictions.

In October 2023, the U.S. further strengthened restrictions on the export of advanced chips and chip manufacturing equipment to China, building upon previous limitations. This move forced Chinese customers to turn to domestic alternatives. Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip is considered the most competitive non-NVIDIA chip available in the Chinese market.

Huawei has maintained a low profile regarding its chip manufacturing capabilities and objectives. There is limited public information about its progress or how it successfully produces advanced chips.

In August 2023, during U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China, Huawei launched the Mate 60 series, garnering significant market attention.

(Photo credit: Huawei)

In a bid to enhance its foundry capabilities, Samsung is earnestly integrating hybrid bonding technology. According to industry sources, Applied Materials and Besi Semiconductor are establishing equipment for hybrid bonding at the Cheonan Campus, slated for use in next-generation packaging solutions like X-Cube and SAINT.

According to a report from South Korean media outlet The Elec, industry sources have indicated that Applied Materials and Besi Semiconductor are installing hybrid bonding equipment at Samsung’s Cheonan Campus, a key site for advanced packaging production. Officials from the South Korean industry also mentioned that a production line is currently under construction, with the equipment intended for non-memory packaging.

Compared to existing bonding methods, hybrid bonding enhances I/O and wiring lengths. Samsung’s latest investment is expected to strengthen its advanced packaging capabilities, introducing the X-Cube utilizing hybrid bonding technology.

Industry sources cited by the report have suggested that hybrid bonding could also be applied to Samsung’s SAINT (Samsung Advanced Interconnect Technology) platform, which the company began introducing this year. The platform includes three types of 3D stacking technologies: SAINT S, SAINT L, and SAINT D.

SAINT S involves vertically stacking SRAM on logic chips such as CPUs. SAINT L involves stacking logic chips on top of other logic chips or application processors (APs). SAINT D entails vertical stacking of DRAM with logic chips like CPUs and GPUs.

TSMC, the leading semiconductor foundry, also offers hybrid bonding in its System on Integrated Chip (SoIC) for 3D packaging services, which is similarly provided by Applied Materials and Besi Semiconductor. Intel has also applied hybrid bonding technology in its 3D packaging technology, Foveros Direct, which was commercialized last year.

Reportedly, industry sources anticipate that Samsung’s investment in hybrid bonding facilities is poised to attract major clients such as NVIDIA and AMD. This is because the demand for hybrid bonding among fabless customers is steadily increasing.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

During the “SEMICON Korea 2024” event held recently in Seoul, Chun-hwan Kim, Vice President of global memory giant SK hynix, revealed that the company’s HBM3e has entered mass production, with plans to commence large-scale production of HBM4 in 2026.

According to a report from Business Korea, Chun-hwan Kim stated that SK hynix’s HBM3e memory is currently in mass production, with plans to initiate mass production of HBM4 in 2026.

He noted that with the advent of the AI computing era, generative AI is rapidly advancing, and the market is expected to grow at a rate of 35% annually. The rapid growth of the generative AI market requires a significant number of higher-performance AI chips to support it, further driving the demand for higher-bandwidth memory.

He further commented that the semiconductor industry would face intense survival competition this year to meet the increasing demand and customer needs for memory.

Kim also projected that the HBM market would grow by 40% by 2025, with SK hynix already strategically positioning itself in the market and planning to commence production of HBM4 in 2026.

Meanwhile, previous reports have also indicated that SK hynix expected to establish an advanced packaging facility in the state of Indiana, USA, to meet the demands of American companies, including NVIDIA.

Driven by the wave of AI advancement and demand from China, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea recently announced that South Korea’s semiconductor product exports experienced a rebound in 2024. In January, exports reached approximately USD 9.4 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 56.2% and the largest growth in 73 months.

TrendForce has previously reported the progress of HBM3e, as outlined in the timeline below, which shows that SK hynix already provided its 8hi (24GB) samples to NVIDIA in mid-August.

Read more

• [News] Reports Suggest SK Hynix to Establish Advanced Packaging Facility in the US
• [News] Intel, SK Hynix, and NTT Japan Collaborate to Develop Next-Generation Silicon Photonics Technology

(Photo credit: SK hynix)

NVIDIA has begun accepting pre-orders for its customized artificial intelligence (AI) chips tailored for the Chinese market, as per a report from Reuters. The prices of the chips are said to be comparable to those of its competitor Huawei’s products.

The H20 graphics card, exclusively designed by NVIDIA for the Chinese market, is the most powerful among the three chips developed, although its computing power is lower than its own flagship AI chips, the H100 and H800. The H800, also tailored for China, was banned in October last year.

According to industry sources cited in the report, the specifications of the H20 are inferior to Huawei’s Ascend 910B in some critical areas. Additionally, NVIDIA has priced orders from Chinese H20 distributors between $12,000 and $15,000 per unit in recent weeks.

It is noteworthy that servers provided by distributors with 8 pre-configured AI chips are priced at CNY 1.4 million. In comparison, servers equipped with 8 H800 chips were priced at around CNY 2 million when they were launched a year ago.

Furthermore, it’s added in the report that distributors have informed customers that they will be able to begin small-scale deliveries of H20 products in the first quarter of 2024, with bulk deliveries starting in the second quarter.

In terms of specifications, the H20 appears to lag behind the 910B in FP32 performance, a critical metric that measures the speed at which chips process common tasks, with the H20’s performance being less than half of its competitor’s.

However, according to the source cited in the report, the H20 seems to have an advantage over the 910B in terms of interconnect speed, which measures the speed of data transfer between chips.

The source further indicates that in applications requiring numerous chips to be interconnected and function as a system, the H20 still possesses competitive capabilities compared to the 910B.

NVIDIA reportedly plans to commence mass production of the H20 in the second quarter of this year. Additionally, the company intends to introduce two other chips targeted at the Chinese market, namely the L20 and L2. However, the status of these two chips cannot be confirmed at the moment, as neither the H20, L20, nor L2 are currently listed on NVIDIA’s official website.

TrendForce believes Chinese companies will continue to buy existing AI chips in the short term. NVIDIA’s GPU AI accelerator chips remain a top priority—including H20, L20, and L2—designed specifically for the Chinese market following the ban.

At the same time, major Chinese AI firms like Huawei, will continue to develop general-purpose AI chips to provide AI solutions for local businesses. Beyond developing AI chips, these companies aim to establish a domestic AI server ecosystem in China.

TrendForce recognizes that a key factor in achieving success will come from the support of the Chinese government through localized projects, such as those involving Chinese telecom operators, which encourage the adoption of domestic AI chips.

Read more

• [News] Expert Insights on NVIDIA’s AI Chip Strategy – Downgraded Version Targeted for China, High-End Versions Aimed Overseas
• NVIDIA Experiences Strong Cloud AI Demand but Faces Challenges in China, with High-End AI Server Shipments Expected to Be Below 4% in 2024, Says TrendForce

(Photo credit: NVIDIA)