Samsung Electronics has begun mass production of logic chips utilizing its 14nm LPP (Low-Power Plus) process, the 2nd generation of the company's 14nm FinFET process technology. Samsung announced in Q1 of 2015 the launch of the Exynos 7 Octa processor built on the industry's first 14nm LPE (Low-Power Early) process. With the new 14nm LPP process, Samsung continues to demonstrate its process technology leadership, performance and power efficiency for its Exynos 8 Octa processor and its foundry customers including Qualcomm Technologies. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor uses Samsung's new 14nm LPP process and is expected to be in devices - incuding the Galaxy S7 - in the first half of this year.

Incorporating three-dimensional (3D) FinFET structure on transistors enables significant performance boost and low power consumption. Samsung's new 14nm LPP process delivers up to 15 percent higher speed and 15 percent less power consumption over the previous 14nm LPE process through improvements in transistor structure and process optimization. In addition, use of fully-depleted FinFET transistors brings enhanced manufacturing capabilities to overcome scaling limitations.

The 14nm FinFET process is considered to be one of the most optimized solutions for mobile and IoT applications and is expected to meet market demand for a wide range of applications from network to automotive.

Samsung is the only chipmaker to deploy the 14nm-class technology, and the latest development is expected to widen the technological gaps with its competitors Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, GlobalFoundries and Intel.

The deal between Qualcomm and Samsung on the Snapdragon 820 processor, is very significant because never before has Qualcomm used foundries other than TSMC to make high-end chipsets.

TSMC, which has counted Qualcomm as its top customer, said on Thursday it expected falling demand in high-end smartphones in the current quarter after posting a better than expected quarterly profit.

The Korean chipmaker is also betting big on the 10-nm-class chips, widely expected to be developed in the latter half of this year.