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Samsung Electronics has struck a deal with Nvidia, IBM, Qualcomm, and Baidu for the supply of semiconductors. The South Korean memory chipmaker will be producing 3-nanometer process nodes for them.
With the new deals with some of the leading tech firms, Samsung is hoping to outdo its rival TSMC amid the fierce competition in the chip market. Aside from the mentioned companies, Samsung will make the same chip type for other clients as well.
On Tuesday, sources said that the world’s largest chip producer is jointly developing cutting-edge chips with five to six fabless partners for large quantity supply requirements that are needed to be delivered as early as 2024, according to The Korea Economic Daily.
Samsung Electronics will be making use of its 3 nm technology to make graphics processing units or GPUs for the software company, Nvidia and central processing units (CPUs) for IBM. For Qualcomm, the company will make smartphone application processors, and Baidu is requiring artificial intelligence chips that are used in cloud data centers.
It was reported that the major tech firms picked Samsung to be their consignment producer after looking into its 3-nanometer process technology. They also considered their need to have several suppliers, so it was the best choice.
Business observers said that Samsung is relying on its 3 nm technology to outdo the Taiwanese chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., in terms of contracts in the industry. This is because Samsung may be the top player in the memory chip industry in the world, but when it comes to the contract manufacturing business, it is only No. 2 behind TSMC. Currently, the Taiwanese semiconductor giant dominates more than half of the foundry market, globally.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics owns and operates contract chipmaking facilities in five territories worldwide. These are located in Austin, Texas; Giheung, South Korea; Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek; and Taylor, Texas.
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