Samsung Starts Mass Production of 3-Nanometer Chips

Samsung has begun mass production of microscopic 3-nanometer chips for the first time in the world, the company said on Thursday.

A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, and an average human hair is about 60,000 nanometers thick. 

The most advanced technology until now was 4 nanometers. 

Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong showed U.S. President Joe Biden the 3-nanometer technology when he visited the chipmaker's plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province last month, where Biden and President Yoon Suk-yeol signed 3-nanometer chips instead of a guest book. 

Samsung is a latecomer to the foundry business but now boasts world-leading technology. The latest achievement puts Samsung on a trajectory to catch up with No. 1 player Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which accounts for 53.6 percent of the global foundry market. Second-ranked Samsung accounts for a 16.3 percent share.

It aims to become the world's leading system semiconductor manufacturer by 2030. Although it is the world's top semiconductor maker, Samsung's product lineup is focused on memory chips, but the system semiconductor market is more than twice as big. 

Samsung has already secured a number of clients. A staffer said, "We have started delivering 3-nanometer computing system semiconductors to a client."