Samsung's 2nm Process Order Surge Leads to Tight Manpower, Google TPU I/O Chip Backend Design to Be Outsourced

BlockBeats News, July 16th: Samsung Electronics is considering outsourcing the backend design work of Google's 10th-gen TPU (codenamed Icefish) I/O chip. Google's 2nm-based TPU consists of a Compute processor and an I/O chip — the former expected to be manufactured by TSMC using a 1.4nm process, while the latter, responsible for data transfer between the Compute processor and HBM, will be produced by Samsung using a 2nm process. Google is collaborating with MediaTek on the design, with mass production expected as early as 2028. However, Samsung has recently seen a surge in 2nm orders — apart from Google and Tesla, they have also secured orders from Anthropic and DeepX, leading to a strain on internal resources. Previously, Samsung's in-house team handled the backend design of Tesla's 2nm autonomous driving chip.

The potential outsourcing partners mentioned include ADTechnology, Gaonchips, and Alphachips. The first two have already committed to large-scale projects — ADTechnology is focusing on the 2nm CPU project ADP620, aiming to surpass 1 trillion KRW in annual revenue between 2028 and 2029; Gaonchips is preparing to participate in the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's approximately 800 billion KRW K-On-Device AI project, collaborating with Hyundai to develop a 5nm ADAS chip. Since backend design contracts are inherently low-value-added services (usually in the hundreds of billion KRW range), far below ASIC projects that cover everything from design to tape-out (which can reach hundreds of billions to trillions of KRW), both companies are not very enthusiastic and only inclined to take on limited work to establish a track record in advanced process projects. On the other hand, Alphachips views the Google TPU project as a growth driver and is more willing to participate. Industry insiders point out that TSMC's 2nm market orders that cannot be fulfilled due to production capacity constraints are flowing over to Samsung, which is a deep-rooted cause of the latter's resource crunch.