Samsung has achieved a major milestone, beating rival TSMC to 3-nanometer production.

TSMC and Samsung both produce mobile chips used in smartphones, tablets, and more. While TSMC is considered the industry leader, Samsung has built quite a business making its own chips, as well as making chips for other companies. Samsung has now begun production of its 3nm chips, ushering in the next generation of performance and power efficiency.

“Samsung has grown rapidly as we continue to demonstrate leadership in applying next-generation technologies to manufacturing, such as foundry industry’s first High-K Metal Gate, FinFET, as well as EUV. We seek to continue this leadership with the world’s first 3nm process with the MBCFET™,” said Dr. Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “We will continue active innovation in competitive technology development and build processes that help expedite achieving maturity of technology.”

According to the company, first-gen 3nm chips will be able to reduce power consumption up to 45%, while improving performance by up to 23%. The chips will also reduce area by 16%.

The second-gen 3nm chips will improve those numbers to 50% less power consumption, 30% better performance, and 35% area reduction.

The one thing that remains to be seen is whether Samsung will be able to tackle the heat issues it has been struggling with. Compared to chips made by TSMC, some have begun to suspect Samsung-manufactured chips have led to the overheating problems in the Galaxy S22, as well as other brands that rely on Samsung’s production.

Hopefully, the company will be able to put these issues to rest with the move to 3nm.