Semiconductors – chips are an integral part of every electronic device. That’s why it’s so important for companies to ensure that their product is equipped with the latest version.
For this reason, many organizations are outdoing themselves in creating better and better chips. For many years, the largest semiconductor manufacturer has been the Taiwanese company TSMC. It supplies more than half of the world chip market. It it’s responsible for producing most of the chips for iPhones and Macs that Apple is so proud of. Few people have heard of it, but it is one of the largest companies in the world. In the field of pocket devices, supercomputers and automobiles, TSMC is a nearly a monopoly with more than 90% of the global chip supply. Another 8% of companies are supplied by Samsung chips. That leaves just 2% for dozens of other producers.
But that doesn’t stop other organizations from becoming competitors in the production of new and better semiconductors. The American company NVIDIA recently took away TSMC’s long-occupied first place on the list of most profitable companies. The competition is growing and more rivals are joining the race for the first 2 nm process. One of the biggest contenders is Samsung. As of today, only Samsung and TSMC produce and sell 3 nm chips. Both companies expect to begin mass production of 2nm chips by 2025.
Now Rapidus is joining the game – the newly formed company is funded by a number of organizations such as Toyota, Sony and Kioxia. However, the biggest donor is the Japanese government itself since company’s headquarters will be in Japan. It will allocate about $500 million to help the new company develop. After a stagnant engineering market and a shortage of skilled workers, Japan is looking for prospects in semiconductor manufacturing. The country is also hoping to forge closer ties with the US, as Rapidus will work with IBM to develop next-generation, sub-2-nanometer chips. This move puts Japan in the team of United States in their technological war with China. Results of this colaboration will be visible in 2027, two years after estimated mass production of TSMC’s and Samsung’s samiconductors. In technological field it’s a lifetime. Probably Rapidus will not be a succes at first, but it may have a potential in future projects and development.
There is still a long way to go before mass production of 2-nm semiconductors. However, a bright future full of potential lies ahead. Battery life of smartphones equipped with such a chip will quadruple. Laptop functions will speed up dramatically. The same goes for object detection in autonomous vehicles, which will reduce possibility of accidents on the roads. On top of that, the carbon footprint will be much smaller. It is believed that 2nm could be useful in areas such as 5G internet, big data centres and even quantum computing. One thing is certain, whoever develops a good-quality 2-nanometer semiconductor first will gain great strength in the technology field.
Sources:
https://www.ft.com/content/47282150-7c2e-49f5-8e9e-f61c3904e461
https://newsroom.ibm.com/2021-05-06-IBM-Unveils-Worlds-First-2-Nanometer-Chip-Technology,-Opening-a-New-Frontier-for-Semiconductors
https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/04/samsung_2nm_2025/
https://www.ft.com/content/b90da329-a2e5-486a-860f-a20a3afc707a