Leading-edge foundry roadmaps for TSMC, Intel and Samsung — outlining the path to 1.4nm nodes and beyond - Tom's Hardware

This article analyzes the advanced process technology roadmaps of the world's three leading foundries—TSMC, Intel, and Samsung—focusing on their development paths toward 2nm and below nodes. All three... Read original →

TSMC, Intel, and Samsung’s diverging paths below the 2nm node are reshaping semiconductor manufacturing’s technical ecosystem. TSMC’s bifurcated N2 roadmap—split between HPC and density-optimized variants—signals a strategic pivot from physical scaling to value-driven scaling, forcing EDA and advanced packaging to co-evolve. Intel’s aggressive bet on PowerVia and High-NA EUV is technically bold but operationally fragile, as the canceled 20A node revealed; this volatility may inflate customer NRE costs and trigger foundry reallocation. Samsung’s FinFET-based iteration appears conservative but tactically avoids GAA’s early yield pitfalls—at the risk of missing the AI chip inflection point. Within 18 months, U.S. CHIPS Act subsidy tapering and tighter export controls will amplify geopolitical friction for all three, especially those reliant on American tools. The real race isn’t to 1.4nm—it’s who builds the first cohesive process-architecture-software stack. Without it, leading-edge nodes become costly vanity metrics.