It was recently reported that Samsung is developing new mobile chipsets based on the 20nm manufacturing process. These chips would have offered better performance and efficiency as compared to existing 28nm chips. Rumor has it that Samsung might skip the 20nm manufacturing process altogether and instead adopt the 14nm processor straight from the existing 28nm. The reason why Samsung is making this decision, according to Korean DDaily News, is because it wants to make a “comeback” in the foundry business amid mounting competition from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., commonly known as TSMC.
TSMC is working on 20nm chips already, so Samsung just might be willing to go one step ahead so as to bolster its dominance in the foundry business. The 14nm “Exynos 6” chip is said to have 64-bit support as well, along with ARM big.LITTLE octacore configuration and Cortex A53/A57 cores. Apparently these cores will be operational simultaneously while needing almost half the power that the Exynos 5420 chip requires. Samsung is said to finish production of sample units by the end of this year. Samsung Galaxy S5 is reportedly going to be the first smartphone to debut these new chips, though that might not pan out if recent rumors are true. Apparently Samsung has pushed Galaxy S5 launch to January 2014 as Galaxy S4 sales have reportedly not met internal expectations.
