Samsung Showcases AI-Era Vision and Latest Foundry Technologies at SFF 2024

June 13, 2024 -- Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today unveiled its latest foundry innovations and outlined its vision for the AI era during Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) U.S., an annual event held at the company’s Device Solutions America headquarters in San Jose, California.

Under the theme “Empowering the AI Revolution,” Samsung announced its reinforced process technology roadmap, including two new cutting-edge nodes — SF2Z and SF4U — as well as its integrated Samsung AI Solutions platform harnessing the unique strengths of its Foundry, Memory and Advanced Package (AVP) businesses.

“At a time when numerous technologies are evolving around AI, the key to its implementation lies in high-performance, low-power semiconductors,” said Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “Alongside our proven GAA process optimized for AI chips, we plan to introduce integrated, co-packaged optics (CPO) technology for high-speed, low-power data processing, providing our customers with the one-stop AI solutions they need to thrive in this transformative era.”

The event featured presentations from distinguished industry thought leaders such as Arm CEO Rene Haas and Groq CEO Jonathan Ross, who took the stage to emphasize the robust partnerships with Samsung in tackling new AI challenges. Around 30 partner companies exhibited at booths, further highlighting the dynamic collaboration across the U.S. foundry ecosystem.

Empowering Customer AI Solutions With State-of-the-Art Process Technology Roadmap

Samsung announced two new process nodes, SF2Z and SF4U, reinforcing its leading-edge process technology roadmap.

The company’s latest 2nm process, SF2Z, incorporates optimized backside power delivery network (BSPDN) technology, which places power rails on the backside of the wafer to eliminate bottlenecks between the power and signal lines. Applying BSPDN technology to SF2Z not only enhances power, performance and area (PPA) compared to SF2, the first-generation 2nm node, but also significantly reduces voltage drop (IR drop), enhancing the performance of HPC designs. Mass production of SF2Z is slated for 2027.

SF4U, on the other hand, is a high-value 4nm variant that offers PPA improvements by incorporating optical shrink, with mass production scheduled for 2025.

Samsung reaffirmed that its preparations for SF1.4 (1.4nm) are progressing smoothly, with performance and yield targets on track for mass production in 2027. Emphasizing its ongoing commitment to advancing beyond Moore, Samsung is actively shaping future process technologies below 1.4nm through material and structural innovations.

Continuously Advancing GAA Maturity

With the onset of the AI era, structural advancements like gate-all-around (GAA) have become imperative to meet power and performance demands. At SFF, Samsung emphasized the maturity of its GAA technology, a key technological enabler in empowering AI.

Entering its third year of mass production, Samsung’s GAA process is consistently demonstrating continuous maturity in both yield and performance. Leveraging this accumulated GAA production experience, Samsung plans to mass produce its second-generation 3nm process (SF3) in the second half of this year and deliver GAA on its upcoming 2nm process.

Samsung’s GAA production has been steadily increasing since 2022 and is poised to substantially expand in the coming years.

Highlighting Cross-Company Collaborations for Turnkey Samsung AI Solutions

Another highlight was the unveiling of Samsung AI Solutions, a turnkey AI platform resulting from collaborative efforts across the company’s Foundry, Memory and AVP businesses.

Integrating the unique strengths of each business, Samsung is offering high-performance, low-power and high-bandwidth solutions that can be tailored to suit specific customer AI requirements.

Cross-company collaboration also streamlines supply chain management (SCM) and reduces time to market, enabling a remarkable 20% improvement in total turnaround time (TAT).

Samsung plans to introduce an all-in-one, CPO-integrated AI solution in 2027, aiming to provide customers with one-stop AI solutions.

Diversifying Customers and Applications for a Balanced Portfolio Across AI to Mainstream Tech

Samsung is also making significant strides in diversifying its customer base and application areas.

Over the past year, close customer collaborations have led to an increase in Samsung Foundry’s AI sales by 80%, reflecting its dedication to meeting evolving market demands.

In addition to its leading-edge process nodes, Samsung offers specialty and 8-inch wafer derivatives with continued PPA improvements and strong cost competitiveness. With this balanced technology portfolio, the company is catering to customer needs across automotive, medical, wearable and IoT applications.

Converging AI and Technology to Advance the Foundry Ecosystem Toward Collective Growth

Building on the momentum of the SFF event, Samsung will also be hosting its annual Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE™) Forum on June 13. Themed “AI: Exploring Possibilities and Future,” the forum will serve as a collaborative platform for ecosystem partners to discuss customizable technologies and solutions tailored for AI.

At this year’s forum, Siemens CEO Mike Ellow, AMD Vice President Bill En and Celestial AI CEO David Lazovsky are among the industry leaders who will present insightful perspectives on the future of chip and system design technologies.

The forum will also feature the inaugural Multi-Die Integration (MDI) Alliance workshop, following the launch of the MDI Alliance last year. Samsung will engage in extensive discussions with its alliance partners on mutual growth opportunities and specific collaborative initiatives, with a focus on 2.5D and 3D IC designs for comprehensive solutions development. These activities will further strengthen partnerships and foster a collective vision.