Samsung Foundry Turns to NVIDIA’s “Digital Twin” Technology to Counter Yield Issues and Competition from TSMC and IFS
Over the past few years, Samsung Foundry (SF) has faced a lot of challenges, struggling with low yield rates and a shift in preference from potential clients who increasingly favor competitors like TSMC as their primary foundry partner. If not catered to, this situation may further prove to be disadvantageous for SF, especially with the potential rise of Intel Foundry Services (IFS).
SF to Use NVIDIA’s Tech to Tone Down Defective Production Numbers
IFS aims to increase its production volumes and capture the second position in the foundry business. To counter this threat, Samsung is planning a rather unique solution to address its low-yield situation more cautiously. The company reportedly plans to implement NVIDIA’s “Digital Twin” technology in its factories starting next year.
NVIDIA’s Digital Twins (Based on Omniverse Replicator)
Digital Twin technology, like the name suggests creates a controlled and safe virtual space within which a virtual simulation of real-world situations and scenarios for a factory can be run.
A digital twin is a virtual representation — a true-to-reality simulation of physics and materials — of a real-world physical asset or system, which is continuously updated.
What is a Digital Twin — NVIDIA
The simulation uses AI and big data to analyze the production process, searching for trends and variations. This flexibility also allows engineers to experiment with different methods with minimal resource loss, leading to better optimization and efficiency within the whole process, potentially improving yields.
Samsung to Present its Plans for Digital Twin Semiconductor Factories at NVIDIA’s AI Conference this Year
The Digital Twin technology is built on NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform. Samsung will announce its plans for the first Digital Twin-based semiconductor factory at the upcoming NVIDIA GTC 2024 conference, held from March 18-21. Yun Seok-jin, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics DS Division Innovation Center, will present the company’s plans during the event.
This initiative is not new. In fact, Samsung established the Digital Twin Task Force in 2022 and subsequently appointed Lee Young-woong, a field expert, as the task force leader. If everything proceeds according to plan, Samsung could potentially begin pilot operations as early as this year, and develop the world’s first Digital Twin Level 5 factory within two years. For reference, this is the highest level among smart factories.
Digital Twin will surely allow for defective product prevention and product and production analysis via AI, but to still counteract the threat of IFS and TSMC stomping over its position in the market, it’ll still have to satisfy clients and solidify customer relationships.
This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.
