Samsung has just announced that it is the first company in the industry to start the mass production of mobile processors based on the 14nm FinFET fabrication process. The company’s upcoming Exynos 7 Octa chipset, which will be reportedly used on the Galaxy S6, is going to be the first mobile AP (Application Processor) to be manufactured on this new process. Samsung states that the shift to 14nm FinFET process will allow its chipsets to be 20 percent faster while consuming 35 percent less energy compared to its own 20nm fabrication process. Samsung boasts in its press release that it has gained a “significant” competitive advantage in the mobile semiconductor industry by “incorporating three-dimensional (3D) FinFET structure on transistors,” which has allowed it “overcome performance and scaling limitations of the planar structure used in previous 20nm and older processes.” The Snapdragon 810 chipset from Samsung’s rival Qualcomm is based on the 20nm fabrication process from TSMC.
