Samsung will make 8nm chips for Hyundai cars

After receiving orders from Apple and Tesla to make semiconductor chips, the South Korean tech giant Samsung has reportedly secured the contract to produce semiconductor chips for Hyundai Motor Company vehicles.

Samsung Foundry could produce 8nm chips for Hyundai

A report from ZDNet Korea states that Samsung Foundry has secured the order to manufacture 8nm semiconductor chips for Hyundai Motor Company.

As Samsung has been struggling in the chip segment over the past few years, this autonomous driving chip has reportedly been designed by Hyundai in-house, with development expected to be completed by 2028. Samsung Foundry plans to mass-produce the chip in 2030.

Although there have been reports about the company making 5nm autonomous driving chips for Hyundai Motor Company, that order is expected to be delayed until next year.

This flagship chip will likely be used only in premium models, such as those made by Hyundai’s sub-brand Genesis.

Hyundai reportedly selected an 8nm process for its chip due to its cost-effectiveness while still providing performance comparable to 5nm chips. The chip will be used in several vehicles across Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia brands. The 5nm chip will only be used in high-end cars.

Samsung Foundry has been trying to compete with TSMC for years. However, it has started to win back clients from its Taiwanese competitor. Over the past 3-4 years, Samsung Foundry lost clients like Nvidia and Qualcomm to TSMC.

With a new strategy, the company is aiming to attract brands for its 2nm process node. It has reportedly sent a sample chip to Qualcomm. If Qualcomm is satisfied with the performance and stability of Samsung’s version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it could be mass-produced next year and used in some Galaxy phones.

However, the company does not want to rely solely on smartphone chips. Recently, it has been working to secure chip orders from various companies, including AI chip makers (Preferred Networks (PFN), Rebellions, and Tenstorrent), automotive parts manufacturers (Valens Semiconductor), and automakers (Hyundai and Tesla).