Samsung Reportedly to Advance MPW Process to 2nm Next Year

According to Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics' Foundry Business Vice President, Tae-joon Song, announced today that the company will expand its Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) process to 2 nanometers next year.

The 2nm process is currently the most advanced commercially available process. Due to its extremely high manufacturing complexity, it is currently only used in specific ultra-high-performance semiconductor fields such as AI and high-performance computing (HPC).

MPW is a service in which a foundry stacks chips developed by multiple fabless companies onto a single wafer to mass-produce prototypes. Since fabless companies do not need to bear the cost of an entire wafer, they can reduce R&D cost burdens. This move by Samsung is expected to accelerate the development of ultra-high-performance AI semiconductors by domestic fabless companies in South Korea.

Regarding the specific plan, the 2nm and 4nm processes are scheduled to conduct 7 MPW runs next year, while the 5nm to 28nm processes plan to conduct 11 MPW runs. When considering the older 8-inch process, the total number of MPW runs is expected to increase further.

Tae-joon Song also stated that Samsung Foundry, under the name "SAFE," is expanding and developing cutting-edge processes together with its surrounding ecosystem. Furthermore, through the AI Semiconductor M.AX Alliance, the company will fully support K-On-Device demand companies, fabless firms, and partner companies in achieving their goals.