Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. on late Thursday debuted the Exynos 2600, a high-end mobile chip based on its latest two-nanometer manufacturing technology.
The most advanced smartphone processors on the market today use three-nanometer nodes. Compared with those processes, Samsung’s two-nanometer technology can provide up to 15% faster performance using the same amount of power. Alternatively, chip engineers can trade off that speed advantage for a 30% decrease in energy consumption.
Samsung’s two-nanometer node owes much of its efficiency to a technology called gate-all-around, or GAA. The gate is the part of the transistor that controls how electricity flows through it. In most chip designs, it partly surrounds the transistor. GAA, in contrast, features gates that surround the host transistors from all sides.
Placing a layer of material around a transistor reduces power leakage, which makes chips more energy-efficient. GAA also has certain other benefits. GAA-based transistors take up less space than earlier circuits, which means more of them can fit on a chip, and their structure can be customized in a more fine-grained manner.
The technical improvements in Samsung’s two-nanometer mode will translate into faster handset performance. According to the company, the Exynos 2600’s onboard central processing unit is up to 39% faster than previous-generation hardware.
The CPU comprises 10 cores based on two different chip designs from Arm Holdings plc. One of those designs is the Arm C1-Ultra, the company’s flagship mobile CPU. It ships with a technology called SME2 that speeds up some of the tasks involved in running artificial intelligence models.
According to Samsung, the Exynos 2600 pairs its 10-core CPU with a dedicated AI accelerator. The neural processing unit, or NPU, offers 113% faster performance than its predecessor. There’s also a graphics processing unit that is twice as fast as Samsung’s previous-generation silicon.
The GPU speedup will enable smartphones to more efficiently run ray tracing algorithms. Originally developed for the film industry, ray tracing is a rendering approach that makes lighting and shadow effects more realistic. Samsung says that the Exynos 2600 can run the technology 50% times faster than its earlier chips.
The launch of the processor comes a few days after reports emerged that Samsung’s two-nanometer node has drawn interest from a high-profile potential customer. According to PC Gamer, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. could use the technology to make consumer processors. The companies are expected to finalize a manufacturing contract early next year if Samsung’s two-nanometer node meets certain performance requirements.
Photo: Samsung
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
- 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
- 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About News Media
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, News Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
