Asia leads as nanometer chips redefine semiconductor industry

New Delhi: Nanometer chips, particularly those under 10nm, are revolutionising the semiconductor industry and as the semiconductor landscape continues to evolve, there is a shift in the industry's centre of gravity towards Asia, a report said on Monday.

TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry, has unveiled advancements in 2nm technology and new additions to its 3nm family. Its 2nm technology is slated for production in 2025.

"The nanometer chip revolution is here to rewrite the rules of technology. Unleashing a power surge in the AI realm, 5nm chips, for instance, are redefining speed and efficiency across industries," said Kiran Raj, Practice Head of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

"They are turbocharging generative AI, making edge computing nimbler, fuelling smarter consumer devices, driving autonomous vehicles into the future besides influencing healthcare and quantum computing," Raj added.

Samsung aims to mass-produce 2nm chips by 2025 and 1.4nm chips by 2027, leveraging its success with 3nm technology ahead of TSMC.

To support this, Samsung plans to triple its sub-10nm chip production capacity by 2027, which includes a new manufacturing line in Texas, the US.

Intel's 4 process, equivalent to 7nm, is production-ready, while Intel 3, analogous to 5nm, is anticipated for high-volume manufacturing in late 2023.

IBM's 2nm chip packs 50 billion transistors into a fingernail-sized space.

"TSMC firmly dominates the semiconductor industry, having already transitioned to groundbreaking 5nm and 4nm processes, and is poised to usher in a new era of 3nm volume production by late 2023," said Raj.

Meanwhile, Samsung grapples with significant production hurdles, yielding less than 50 per cent on its 5nm node, a stark contrast to TSMC's progress.

Intel trails further behind, underscoring the fiercely competitive landscape, the report noted.