Samsung pours $1 billion in its Texas chip foundry, aims to hit 4nm processors by 2020

by Daniel Petrov / Jun 28, 2017, 5:59 AM

Samsung Electronics semiconductor fabrication line

Back in 1997, when the Samsung Austin Semiconductor facility was established, it must have been hard to predict that today it will be one of the most advanced chip foundries globally, churning out the latest generation of mobile chipsets and memory for clients like Apple with its A-series processors, or Samsung itself. The Korean conglomerate just poured in another promised billion to the $16 billion it has invested in Texas since the semiconductor fab's inception. The reason?

Why, the "fourth industrial revolution," mind you. Building on the third digital one, the fourth will usher us into the interconnected IoT world, and Samsung wants to be ready. The Austin chip foundry will thus be at the forefront of the system-on-chip supply for various applications, including "faster and more efficient chips for smart and connected devices with always-on displays." That last part caught out attention, as there was a rumor yesterday that Samsung may be releasing the Galaxy S9 with both 7nm/8nm chipsets, perhaps just like last year's processor nodes were executed with 14nm/16nm models, but all in the frame of the same chipset generation.

What lies beyond the 10nm Snapdragon and Exynos chipsets of today that we find in high-end phones like the Galaxy S8? Well, it turns out that Samsung will be gunning for the next 7nm production node for next year, and the impossible-sounding 4nm chipsets in 2020. The reason for the "impossible" moniker is that apparently after 5nm the production yields get very dicey, so Samsung may need more time than the usual to iron out the kinks. A 4nm Galaxy S11 with always-on display in 2020? Sign us up.

source: Korea Herald

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17 Comments

1. abdoualgeria

Posts: 928; Member since: Jul 27, 2015

Samsung is not messing around ....

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 6:15 AM 0

6. GreenMan

Posts: 2697; Member since: Nov 09, 2015

No kidding, buddy... Here is a PhoneArena article from year 3076 that reads and I quote: "The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S1162 comes with a 2.3 THZ (That's Terra Hertz) 32 Cores 256-bit ARM v16 Quantum processor, 4 TB of RAM with a 28 Inch "Quad" foldable Display (7 Inches in smallest form), 22G CAT188 Modem with 6.3TB/sec download speed, 22GP (Giga Pixel) Camera, 256TB of storage with upto 12EB (Exa Byte) expandability via Nano Dots (successor of the bulky Micro-SDs of yore), integrated mono-fusion generator v1.65248 built in partnership with Tesla Motors Co. with expected service life of 1,687 years (depends on the usage) with a stand-by time of 6 trillion years (give or take). It runs on the latest and greatest Android Lollipop Latte Lassi or LLL in short (After Z, Google went with AA, AB, AC, so on, mind you)... The expected price will be around $14,500 (Inflation)... The people who pre-order will get a portable Samsung 'Flush' teleporter with upto 2,000 miles range for absolutely free...! Place your orders now..." Don't ask how I got it...! G'Day!

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 6:52 AM 4

8. BLUEBLASTER

Posts: 930; Member since: Feb 23, 2014

Still suffers from lagg

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 7:14 AM 9

13. M.O.A.B

Posts: 319; Member since: Feb 13, 2015

oh you mean a frame drop throughout the whole day ?? damn you samsung for this awful lag, i got meetings and business to run and this 1 millisecond is so precious, samsung doesn't even understand business

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 3:39 PM 3

15. darkkjedii

Posts: 31038; Member since: Feb 05, 2011

LMAOOOOO

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 4:44 PM 2

14. darkkjedii

Lag has one G, guess your keyboard lagged.

17. Scott93274

Posts: 6033; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

Well, in all actuality, I have seen a side by side comparison of the latest and greatest Galaxy S8 and last year's Pixel and the fluidity of the Pixel's GUI was noticeability better than that of the S8 despite the S8 having the better hardware. Sure, performance will vary regarding what tasks your phone is performing, but when it comes down to the very basic operations of a phone, it's disappointing to have something with dated hardware take a very noticeable lead.

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 5:31 PM 0

2. Guaire

Posts: 886; Member since: Oct 15, 2014

Again next gen Exynos flagship chip most probably will be manufactured at Samsung Foundry's second gen 10nm process. They stuck with 10nm next year.

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 6:23 AM 0

3. Mreveryphone

Posts: 1821; Member since: Apr 22, 2014

4nm chips with 5g LTE... That's going to be some serious hardware...

5. abdoualgeria

You want notice any different .... Well since 2016 smartphones was fast enough

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 6:45 AM 0

4. byazatt

Posts: 316; Member since: Oct 26, 2012

And things keep on getting better and better

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 6:43 AM 0

7. Landon

Posts: 1245; Member since: May 07, 2015

It seems like everything is vastly improving except for battery life.

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 7:03 AM 1

9. iushnt

Posts: 3105; Member since: Feb 06, 2013

Battery life is not not decreasing either.

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 7:47 AM 1

10. Landon

I realize that these processors are more energy efficient but if you look at the tech of the battery itself, not much has changed over the years. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602245/why-we-still-dont-have-better-batteries/

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 8:30 AM 0

11. trojan_horse

Posts: 5868; Member since: May 06, 2016

Another billion dollars investment... Samsung doing what it does best!

posted on Jun 28, 2017, 10:12 AM 0

12. PrYmCHGOan

Posts: 335; Member since: Sep 28, 2016

No matter who makes an SoC, it is amazing how you can have nearly a full PC on a single die. I mean, the CPU, GPU, WiFi and even the RAM can all be on a die that is smaller then your nail-bed on a finger.