According to reports from BusinessKorea, the third-generation of Google Tensor will use Samsung’s 3nm process node, giving the South Korean company’s foundry business a boost. The third-gen Tensor will be used in the Google Pixel 8 smartphone that is expected to debut in late 2023.
The search giant introduced its in-house mobile SoC, co-designed with Samsung, back in 2021 when Pixel 6 was released. Pixel 7, carrying the second generation of Google Tensor, will be released this autumn.
Offering customized chip design could be an emerging strategy employed by Samsung to boost its foundry business, as exemplified by its close cooperation with Google in mobile SoC development. As Anandtech noted in 2021, Google Tensor not only closely followed the naming scheme of Samsung’s Exynos chipsets, but shared many similarities with Samsung’s 5nm-based Exynos 2100 chipset, from foundational IP blocks like power management and clock management architectures to higher-level IP blocks like ISP, memory controller and media codecs.
This paved the way for Google to become a major client of Samsung’s foundry business: Google Tensor 1 was fabricated on Samsung’s 5nm process, and Google Tensor 2 plans to use Samsung’s 4nm process. Applying gate-all-around (GAA) transistor architecture, Samsung’s first-gen 3nm process technology just entered production at the end of June, embodying the South Korean company’s ambition to challenge TSMC.
Multiple challenges remain for Samsung to overcome, however. Rumors of low yield have been haunting the company: its 4nm process reportedly had a mere 35% yield in early 2022, prompting long-time partner Qualcomm to transfer its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors to TSMC. Meanwhile, its 3nm is said to have a yield below 20%.
South Korea’s awkward position between US-China technology war has exacerbated the problem. PanSemi, a Chinese cryptomining equipment maker, was among the few known customers of Samsung’s 3nm process. Since the mid-August US ban on the supply of EDA software involved with GAA technology to China, Samsung will not be able to take orders from China-based IC design houses. It is not known if Samsung’s business with PanSemi has been compromised by the US restrictions.
