According to reports, Samsung is facing difficulties in manufacturing chips based on the 3nm process. Not because of technical setbacks, but because of a shortage of talent in the semiconductor field. Samsung foundry does not seem to have enough R&D manpower to maintain 3nm-based chip manufacturing, and reports say Samsung has undertaken some restructuring to alleviate these problems.
According to media reports on South Korea’s Naver, Samsung has reassigned some of its fab employees from legacy processes to 3nm processes (or lower). The company does not appear to have enough talent to support all nodes, so industry watchers say Samsung has reallocated manpower from the 130nm and 65nm foundry processes.
However, this reorganization has not come without a price. Recent reports suggest that Samsung is no longer accepting orders for chips based on 130nm and 65nm nodes from small and medium-sized fabless, which specialize in semiconductor design.
In terms of competition in the semiconductor space, the good news for Samsung is that it’s not the only chipmaker facing these issues. Semiconductor companies in the U.S., Taiwan and China are also struggling to hire more employees.
TSMC recently delayed the production of its 3nm chips, probably for the same reason. Samsung did ship its first 3nm chips last year, but the first batch was very small.
The new Samsung Galaxy S23 series phones use 4nm-based chips, namely Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and these chips are made from TSMC.
