Samsung Electronics has succeeded to develop new packaging technology for its semiconductor foundry business, raising expectations that it can compete with the industry leader TSMC of Taiwan.
The tech giant said Thursday it succeeded in applying what it calls X-Cube 3D stacking technology to produce 7-nanometer chips. The company said its new chip packaging technology will be used for its foundry business, which refers to contract-based chip manufacturing for chip design companies that don’t have their own production facilities.
The company claimed the new technology will upgrade its foundry business capability as it allows chip design firms to design chips that take up less space but have faster and more powerful performance.
“Leveraging Samsung’s through-silicon via (TSV) technology, X-Cube enables significant leaps in speed and power efficiency to help address the rigorous performance demands of next-generation applications including 5G, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, as well as mobile devices and wearables,†the company said.
“With Samsung’s X-Cube, chip designers can enjoy greater flexibility to build custom solutions that best suit their unique requirements. The X-Cube test chip built on 7nm uses TSV technology to stack SRAM on top of a logic die, freeing up space to pack more memory into a smaller footprint.â€
The world’s largest memory chipmaker has been trying to secure a top position in the non-semiconductor sector including the foundry and the system large-scale integration businesses.
Samsung expects the new technology could help the company compete with TSMC, which has dominated the foundry market with a more than 50 percent market share.
“Samsung’s new 3D integration technology ensures reliable TSV interconnections even at the cutting-edge EUV process nodes,†said Kang Moon-soo, senior vice president of Foundry Market Strategy at Samsung. “We are committed to bringing more 3D IC innovation that can push the boundaries of semiconductors.â€
Expressing the company’s strong will to catch up to TSMC, Samsung’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong recently visited the company’s semiconductor factory in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, and inspected its technology development roadmap for its next-generation chip packaging technology.
The packaging technology is an essential part of the chip manufacturing process, enabling electric connection between integrated circuit chips and the circuit board.
Over the past few years, Samsung has been focusing on improving its capability in packaging technology because the ultra-thin package design technology allows chips to have shorter signal paths between integrated circuits for maximum data transfer speed and energy efficiency.
Samsung claimed it will be able to become a leading foundry firm by 2030. According to market tracker TrendForce, TSMC had a market share of 54.1 percent in the first quarter this year while No.2 Samsung had only 15.9 percent.
Samsung added it will deliver more details on the X-Cube technology at Hot Chips, an annual conference on high-performance computing, which will be held virtually from August 16 to 18.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/08/133_294340.html
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Category: Korea
