Samsung improves 4 nm foundry yields, on par with TSMC

Samsung Electronics Co. has improved its 4-nanometer node chip foundry manufacturing yields to the level of its main rival TSMC, improving its chances of winning back fabless customers, an analyst said.

HI Investment & Securities semiconductor analyst Park Sang-wook said in a research note on Tuesday that Samsung's chip productivity, a measure of the probability of getting a quality product from the manufacturing process, has improved to more than 75 percent for the 4-nanometer and 60 percent for the finer 3-nanometer nodes.

Just earlier this year, industry officials expected Samsung's 4-nanometer technology to have a yield of about 50 percent.

In advanced processes such as 3nm and 4nm, a yield of more than 60% means that the yield of chips using these processes has reached a stable level.