April 09, 2018 // By Peter Clarke, eeNews
Samsung Electronics has completed the development of 7nm manufacturing process technology that makes use of extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography, about six months ahead of schedule, according to a report in Seoul Economy Daily.
The process is installed at the Hwaseong S3 production line in South Korea. Samsung is in a race to catch up with foundry leader TSMC which is expected to begin 7nm production in June with Qualcomm, Xilinx and Apple joining HiSilicon as customers.
"The Samsung developers who participated in the development of the 7nm process have completed their mission and moved to 5nm development," the report said quoting an unnamed executive from the semiconductor industry. "We know that they have shared the design database necessary for sample production from customers such as Qualcomm," the report also quoted the official as saying.