Samsung Reaffirms 1.4nm Chip Development as Foundry Race With TSMC Intensifies
The South Korean chipmaker confirmed its most advanced process node remains on schedule for 2029, even as rival TSMC presses ahead with a one-year head start.
Samsung has reaffirmed that development of its 1.4nm semiconductor process node is progressing as planned, with mass production targeted for 2029. The confirmation came during the company's Q1 2026 earnings call, where Samsung Electronics reported record-breaking quarterly revenue driven largely by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory from the artificial intelligence industry. Alongside the financial results, the company stated that its 1.4nm development roadmap remains intact and that it is actively pursuing the expansion of large-scale 2nm customers in parallel.
The update offers the clearest signal yet that Samsung has no intention of abandoning its most ambitious process node, despite a revised timeline that put the company two years behind its original schedule.
A Delayed but Deliberate Roadmap
Samsung first declared in 2022 that it would achieve 1.4nm mass production by 2027. That target was officially revised to 2029 at the SAFE Forum 2025 in Seoul, where Shin Jong-shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Design Platform Development at the Foundry Business Division, presented the updated roadmap. The two-year delay was framed not as a setback but as a strategic correction, prioritizing the profitability and process completeness of existing nodes over the pursuit of another headline-grabbing "world's first."
The decision put Samsung squarely behind TSMC, which has set its own 1.4nm mass production target for 2028, a full year ahead of Samsung's revised schedule. It is a reversal of historical form. Samsung beat TSMC to 10nm mass production in 2016 and claimed the 3nm crown in 2022, both ahead of its Taiwanese rival. However, those early milestones were accompanied by persistent criticism over yield rates and process completeness, with industry observers noting that being first meant little when production reliability lagged.
"Samsung Foundry is inferior to TSMC in terms of process competitiveness, and the adjustment of the 1.4nm process schedule is a strategy to focus on improving the actual foundry business rather than competing to be the first in the world."
The 2nm Bridge
Before 1.4nm becomes relevant, Samsung must prove itself on 2nm. The company's SF2 process node remains on track for volume production in the second half of 2026, with yield and performance targets reportedly already achieved ahead of that window. Samsung has also signaled that it expects 2nm-related orders to grow by more than 30 percent year on year in 2026, buoyed by emerging interest from major customers in both the United States and China. Tesla has already been confirmed as a 2nm customer, and reports suggest Qualcomm may return to Samsung Foundry for its next-generation Snapdragon chip on the second-generation 2nm node.
The 2nm ramp is critical. Samsung's 3nm experience demonstrated the risk of scaling to an unproven node while struggling to fill capacity, and the company reportedly recorded a foundry operating loss of approximately 4 trillion Korean won in 2023 as a direct consequence of low utilization rates following the departure of key customers. The current strategy of stabilizing 2nm before accelerating 1.4nm reflects an organization that has recalibrated its priorities around execution rather than announcements.
The PDK Milestone and What Comes Next
The next concrete marker on the 1.4nm roadmap is the release of the Process Design Kit, the technical toolkit that chip designers need to begin building products around a new node. Samsung plans to deliver that kit to customers in the second half of 2026, giving the industry a meaningful lead time before mass production commences in 2029.
That PDK release will serve as a real-world gauge of Samsung's 1.4nm progress. Customers that begin design work on the strength of the kit will be betting on Samsung's ability to deliver a reliable, high-yield process by 2029. If the 2nm node stabilizes as expected and the PDK lands on schedule, Samsung will enter the 1.4nm era with a foundation of credibility that its 3nm launch lacked.
Meanwhile, Samsung is also targeting full utilization of its advanced-node production lines by Q2 2026, a near-term operational goal that will test whether the company's broader foundry recovery is taking hold before the 1.4nm chapter begins.
A Race Defined by More Than Speed
The semiconductor foundry industry has long treated process node announcements as competitive theatre, with vendors racing to claim the smallest number. Samsung's revised strategy challenges that framing. By deliberately ceding the 1.4nm first-mover title to TSMC, Samsung is signaling that it would rather arrive in 2029 with a process that works than arrive in 2027 or 2028 with one that does not.
Whether that approach restores customer confidence will depend on the 2nm execution in the months ahead. The foundry market is watching closely, and Samsung's earnings call confidence will mean little if its 2nm yield story does not hold up under volume production demands. For now, the 1.4nm clock is running, and Samsung has chosen to run it on its own terms.
