Nvidia Said to Chose TSMC Over Samsung For GPU Production
Nvidia has reportedly chosen Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the production of its graphics processing units, although the company was also considering Samsung Foundry as an option.
Taiwanese media report that TSMC will exclusively produce a GPU to be used in Nvidia's newest flagship graphics card GTX 2080 Ti. Initially, Nvidia was said to use Samsung's 10-nanometer (nm) GPU in its new product, but Nvidia finally chose TSMC's 12-nm GPU.
Nvidia has not confirmed the deal with TSMC, but it is believed that the company has made its decision considering the stability in supply and unit cost. Although a 12-nm GPU is bigger in size compared to a 10-nm part, Nvidia is believed to prioritize stable yield rates and price.
TSMC has been seeking to keep Samsung Electronics in check as the Korean electronics giant has pledged to become the world's second largest foundry firm.
However, Samsung Electronics could receive orders to produce a 7-nm to 8-nm GPU for Nvidia's next series.
TSMC is also ahead of Samsung in the 7-nm foundry business but this is highly likely to become a huge opportunity for Samsung. TSMC succeeded in 7-nm process test mass production at the end of last year and it already secured the mass production system in the second quarter this year. Samsung has also set up its 7-nm chip mass production system. Samsung's prospect has improved as Global Foundries (GF), which is now the world's second largest foundry business, has stopped 7-nm process development.