Samsung’s N2 is probably not as good as TSMC’s N2, but with such a discount it might be worth it for consumer products. While TSMC’s N2 is used for AI, servers, workstations and high-end hardware.
This could mean consoles and GPU prices might stop rising. Maybe even lower a bit.
Hopping that Samsung’s 2nm is decent enough.
https://www.techpowerup.com/341465/samsung-cuts-2-nm-node-pricing-by-33-in-tsmc-competition-push
The nanometer number among different companies doesn’t mean anything anymore in the traditional sense.
These numbers no longer mean what we think they mean. The distance between nodes is not 2nm.
Any company can name there process 2nm, 2 here might mean anything according to the company in their process node. Distance between A to B or X to Y etc.
It used to be true until 5-6nm, but beyond that companies are changing the meaning of these numbers.
With transistor density of ~231 MTr/mm² samsung sf2 is near tsmc n3 process.
So ,its not a matter of 2nm or any names here .
I am aware of those things.
The implications of lesser cost however is something that will be interesting to see.
Yeah, I read the news - 33% discount. TSMC is a beast and cant be tamed. I wonder, why nvidia invested 5 Billion USD in Intel, coz they are also struggling with 18A or 14A.
TSMC keeps its lead in advanced node manufacturing getting major clients like NVIDIA and AMD for its 2 nm process. The Taiwanese foundry plans to start mass production of 2 nm chips in Q4 2025 even with record-high wafer prices at $30,000 per unit. Samsung has always used lower prices to take on TSMC’s control of the market, and it seems to remain on the same strategy with discounts up to 33% cheaper than TSMC’s prices for similar 2 nm chip-making services.
Ye i really hoping samsung’s 2nm turns out solid too. even if it’s not quite on TSMC’s level, the lower cost could really help with GPU and console prices. Would be nice to finally see some price drops instead of constant hikes.
For Nvidia, it doesn’t matter if Intel’s fabrication doesn’t work out. It is leading to an Intel-Nvidia APU to take on AMD. For long, Nvidia wasn’t able to acquire an x86 license, and now they can arm-twist Intel for it. Of course, it is bad for Arc graphics now considering there were already rumours of it being disbanded.
I believe arc will still exist alongside since the partnership is mostly for gaming apu’s. There seems to be no need to discontinue the arc lineup which performs very well for transcoding purposes