Samsung to build new EUV foundry chip line
Samsung has begun construction of a new contract chip-making line at its plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, the company announced on Thursday.
The new line will use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology to make chips that are 5 nanometres or smaller, Samsung said.
It will begin full operations in 2021 and make chips for use in 5G, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence, the South Korean tech giant added. Samsung first announced the successful development of a EUV-based 5nm process last year.
When the new line is complete, Samsung will have, in total, seven contract chip-making lines located in South Korea and the United States.
The company began producing EUV-based chips made with the 7nm process in 2019.
In February, Samsung began operations of its EUV-dedicated line, called V1, at its plant in Hwaseong, South Korea, making chips in the 7nm process.
The V1 line will begin mass-producing 5nm chips later this year, Samsung said.
The South Korean tech giant is a world leader in memory chips, but second-place to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) when it comes to contract chip-making, called foundry in the semiconductor industry.
On Friday, TSMC announced that it was building a new 5nm chip line in Arizona, and will spend $12 billion from 2021 to 2029.
Last year, Samsung said it will invest 133 trillion won, or around $115 billion, into logic chip businesses, which includes foundry, by 2030 to become the market leader in the area.
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