Samsung to begin production of 7 nm chips in early 2018
Even with the heavy blow caused by the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, Samsung has still managed to achieve stunning financial results for the last quarter of 2016, but the company has a tough year ahead as well. To keep it going, the company has plans to improve its 14 nm processor manufacturing technology while working on future designs as well.
According to a new report that surfaced in South Korean media that was recently quoted by SamMobile, "it would appear that Samsung is aiming to start producing 7nm class chipsets in early 2018." The same report claims that Samsung introduced Extreme Ultraviolet Exposure Equipment in the manufacturing process to ensure that the upcoming 7 nm chips live up to the expectations.
Dr. Heo Kuk, Samsung's LSI Division Managing Director, revealed that the company expects the 7 nm technology "to be challenging for all of the patterning scaling," also ensuring they would "lead the most advanced technology with the same competitiveness as 14nm and 10nm."
For now, the 7 nm chips are still pretty far away from entering mass production, but we might hear about the first prototypes by Samsung later this year.