Samsung appears to have made a significant leap in its efforts to bring a 2nm node to market. According to Wccftech, Samsung has reached a roughly 40% yield rate for its production of the cutting-edge node. Assuming that’s indeed the case, Samsung is fast approaching the point at which it can mass-produce semiconductors for the same customers who are currently lining up with Intel and TSMC.

Clearly, Samsung will want to keep up the pace to produce a higher yield rate, but it’s already defying expectations in a huge way. It wasn’t that long ago that a Samsung chairperson found himself fending off rumors that Samsung was considering selling its foundry business. The rumor floated around last October when concerns were raised about yields for its 3nm and 2nm nodes. Rumors were putting yields for the 3nm process in the 10%-20% zone, and a report suggested that three clients may have left Samsung for TSMC.

“We are hungry to grow the business,” Samsung Chairperson Jay Y. Lee said then. “Not interested in spinning (them) off.” Now, with a possible 40% yield rate on the table, it looks like Samsung is sprinting to compete with the likes of Intel and TSMC.

TSMC is the superstar when it comes to cutting-edge nodes. The company was quick to get onboard the AI train and built a strong customer base, with names like AMD and Nvidia at the top of the list. TSMC is very close to mass-producing its vaunted N2 2nm-class node, with wafers reportedly on track to sell for $30,000 each. On top of its production wins, the company faces a potentially huge payoff from constructing a fab on US soil. Fab 21 in Arizona isn’t producing 2nm nodes yet, but it is producing older tech for Apple and other US customers. With the Trump administration setting tariffs to bring manufacturing to the US, TSMC’s move is proving prescient.

Intel has struggled to keep up with TSMC in recent years. The company’s former CEO, Pat Gelsinger, poured billions into its foundry business in an attempt to revive Intel to its former manufacturing glory. Intel didn’t get the jump on AI in the way TSMC did, however, and Gelsinger left the company late last year. Now, with new CEO Lip-Bu Tan breathing new life into Intel, the company has entered a preliminary venture with TSMC. That agreement could see TSMC helping to run Intel’s US fabrication plants.

By: DocMemory
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