apparently, the first batch of Samsung 3nm went to crypto miners. It's presumed that Samsung is producing 3nm chips for their own smartphones by now...
Manufacturing crypto mining chips in a first run of a new process makes a lot of sense. Those chips have small dies and each die has a lot duplicated logic so whatever defects arise require disabling only a the tiny part each chip. Even on a process with lots of defects there is almost no wasted silicon, and the crypto miners will still pay a premium to get chips made on the most power efficient node.
Based on Anthony from twitter who has been reliable about Samsung, Exynos2300 will be made on 5nm !!!! I think 1st gen 3GAE is bust just like TSMC N3 which everyone but Apple have bailed out and Apple itself is not using as much as initially thought. May be just A17 for now.
As the article notes, it's impossible to compare these things based on the marketing names.
I'm sure this will never happen because obscurity benefits these companies, but it would be nice if we could get a more consistent comparison in terms of something that has real-world relevance. For example, what would be the die size, clock speed, and power consumption if a standard ARM reference design were fabbed on each of these processes?
> naming of fabrication processes these days is essentially aspiratory
Great typo. I presume "aspirational" was meant, not a reference to "aspirate" (introduce air), but calling process naming a load of hot air also works... ;)
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SydneyBlue120d - Monday, October 10, 2022 - link
Is there someone using the Samsung 3nm process at the moment?Can you name it?
meacupla - Monday, October 10, 2022 - link
apparently, the first batch of Samsung 3nm went to crypto miners. It's presumed that Samsung is producing 3nm chips for their own smartphones by now...SydneyBlue120d - Tuesday, October 11, 2022 - link
Is there any solid reference about this?Thanks for the reply.
meacupla - Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - link
no solid references. just some articles I saw from reputable tech news sites.The Von Matrices - Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - link
Manufacturing crypto mining chips in a first run of a new process makes a lot of sense. Those chips have small dies and each die has a lot duplicated logic so whatever defects arise require disabling only a the tiny part each chip. Even on a process with lots of defects there is almost no wasted silicon, and the crypto miners will still pay a premium to get chips made on the most power efficient node.trivik12 - Saturday, November 5, 2022 - link
Based on Anthony from twitter who has been reliable about Samsung, Exynos2300 will be made on 5nm !!!! I think 1st gen 3GAE is bust just like TSMC N3 which everyone but Apple have bailed out and Apple itself is not using as much as initially thought. May be just A17 for now.ballsystemlord - Monday, October 10, 2022 - link
Samsung has had bad yields on it's 5nm node. Is their 3nm process also producing poor yields, or have they fixed the problems?Otritus - Wednesday, October 12, 2022 - link
All Samsung yields below 8nm are dogshit, and 8nm is kinda meh. Only 14nm and larger are decent to good.Blastdoor - Monday, October 10, 2022 - link
As the article notes, it's impossible to compare these things based on the marketing names.I'm sure this will never happen because obscurity benefits these companies, but it would be nice if we could get a more consistent comparison in terms of something that has real-world relevance. For example, what would be the die size, clock speed, and power consumption if a standard ARM reference design were fabbed on each of these processes?
I know.... it will never happen.
Jp7188 - Sunday, October 16, 2022 - link
Tranistors per square millimeter is the best metric i have seen.asmian - Tuesday, October 11, 2022 - link
> naming of fabrication processes these days is essentially aspiratoryGreat typo. I presume "aspirational" was meant, not a reference to "aspirate" (introduce air), but calling process naming a load of hot air also works... ;)
yeeeeman - Monday, October 17, 2022 - link
How is Intel 3 2023, when not even Intel 4 is launched?GubbyMan - Friday, October 21, 2022 - link
Intel 4 is 2022 H2 ramp with product coming in 2023 H1 (14th gen meteor lake). Intel 3 has products planned for 2023 H2.