The company said Thursday that Samsung Electronics became the first chipmaker to mass produce advanced 3 nanometre microchips, as it seeks to catch up with Taiwan's TSMC.
The chips will be smaller, more powerful and efficient, and will be used in high-performance computing applications before being put into gadgets such as mobile phones.
Compared to 5 nm processes, the first-generation 3 nm process can reduce power consumption by up to 45%, improve performance by 23% and reduce area by 16%, Samsung said in a statement.
South Korean conglomerate announced last month a five-year plan to invest 450 trillion won US $356 billion in a five-year plan to improve the mass production of chips based on the 3 nanometer process. The vast majority of the world's most advanced microchips are made by two companies -- Samsung and Taiwan's TSMC -- both of which are running at full capacity to address a global shortage.
Samsung is the market leader in memory chips, but it has been trying to catch up with TSMC in the advanced foundry business.
TSMC dominates more than half of the global foundry market, with clients including Apple and Qualcomm, while Samsung trails with around 16 percent of the market share, according to TrendForce.
TSMC plans to begin volume production of 3 nanometre technology in the second half of this year and entered the development stage of 2 nanometre technology last year, according to the company's 2021 annual report.