In recent weeks, leading manufacturers of semiconductors made a number of statements about the preparation for the release of chips with technological standards of 7 nm. This is a very important point. The process technology with the norms of 10 nm, like the technical process with the norms of 20 nm, will be a short-term phenomenon in the semiconductor market. Soon and long enough, the ball will be ruled by 7-nm chips. Contract manufacturers are interested in presenting a process technology that would better meet the needs of developers.
It should also be noted that the 7-nm process technology will for the first time partially use the EUV-range scanners. This is a costly first step, but it will pay off later in the mass production of microchips, since it will reduce the number of photomasks per layer from four to five to one. Our colleagues from the Internet resource DigiTimes have released a short analytical note on the manufacturers' readiness to switch to a 7-nm process technology, which we'll talk about.
TSMC is one of the first companies to start mass production of 7-nm products. In the second quarter this year, TSMC launched a risky production of 7-nm products, gaining 12 digital projects at this stage. Apparently, one of them belongs to the company Qualcomm, which allegedly decided to abandon the services of Samsung at this stage. Mass production of 7-nm TSMC chips will begin in the first half of 2018. Maybe in the first quarter. In 2019, a Taiwanese contractor is about to begin production of the second generation of 7-nm chips with partial use of EUV-scanners.
Samsung also plans to begin mass production of 7-nm products in 2018. It is a year before TSMC intends to begin using the EUV-projection, which should also happen in 2018. This is likely to delay the appearance of Samsung's 7-nm offer on the market, but will allow it to make a more profitable offer for customers. Instead of the early start of the 7-nm (7LPP) production, the South Korean manufacturer will present in early 2018 the latest traditional process technology with 8 nm (8LPP). In 2019 the company expects to introduce technical processes with the norms of 6 nm (6LPP) and 5 nm (5LPP), and also to prepare for the risky production in 2020 of the 4 nm process technology (4LPP).
GlobalFoundries will launch a risk-based production with 7 nm (7LP) in the first half of 2018. Serial 7-nm chips will begin to go off the company's pipelines in the second half of 2018. In particular, AMD is now betting on them. The company GlobalFoundries also plans to use EUV-lithography, but does not specify exact terms. You can expect that this will happen either in 2019 or in 2020.
Intel company is still staying away from the 7-nm mainstream. It is assumed that the release of 7-nm products, it will not begin before 2020.