Samsung starts mass production of 10-nanometer chips

Samsung has officially announced that it has begun mass production of a new processor using 10-nanometer FinFET technology

Samsung would, in fact, the first to begin production of 10nm chips that will presumably be on board Qualcomm's next high-end processor - the Snapdragon 830 - which will be the beating heart of the new Galaxy S8, and other flagship models, due out early next year.

The Korean giant actually didn't go into that much detail in its announcement, meaning it didn't specify for which processor this new technology would be destined, suggesting a generic "digital devices" coming early next year. Samsung has, however, specified that the new SoC at 10nm (system on chip) - that is to integrated circuits that house all components in a single chip - compared to 14nm models, will offer an increase in the efficiency of use of the area up to 30%, 27% higher performance against a power saving of 40%. And that would be just the beginning.

Powerful processors that consume little

The secret is in Samsung's FinFET manufacturing process , codenamed 10LPE, which uses transistors with 3D structure and some improvements in both design and manufacturing over 14-nanometer chips. Samsung also let it be known that these new chips with 10 nanometer FinFET technology will be followed closely by a second generation expected in the second half of 2017 that can offer an additional "performance boost." A further overall improvement due to the new manufacturing process that will move from the current 10 nanometer FinFET 10LPE to 10LPP.