Samsung Develops EUV 5nm Chip Process

Samsung Electronics has successfully developed a 5nm semiconductor process using its touted Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) technology, the company announced.

The South Korean tech giant currently applies a 7nm process to the processors used in its flagship smartphone models -- most notably, the Galaxy S10.

Samsung also has plans to begin mass production of a 6nm process this year, it said.

The 5nm process will make chips 25% smaller and 20% more power efficient compared to those made with a 7nm process.

The company is expected to commercialise the new process sometime next year.

Clients who designed their chips based on the 7nm process will be able to take the intellectual property rights they are already using and apply them to the new process, Samsung said, to allow clients to conserve costs.

The company introduced its EUV 7nm process back in 2017 and has been competing fiercely with rival TSMC to lock down clients.

As late, Samsung has placed more resources into its logic chips and contract-chip making businesses, which has traditionally fallen behind its memory semiconductor business.

Earlier this month, Samsung began mass production of its 5G network chips to get an early footing in the next-generation wireless market.

The firm's logic chip boss previously told ZDNet that 5G would provide Samsung with an "unimaginable business opportunity".

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