Samsung to manufacture Ambarella’s 5nm chip with self-driving capability

Samsung said on Tuesday that it will be using its 5-nanometer (nm) node to manufacture US AI chip firm Amarella’s latest SoC that supports self-driving by cars.

Ambarella’s CV3-AD685 is powered by the company’s latest AI engine called Cvflow and is aimed at advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) of vehicles.

The chip can use read the input given by cameras and radars to determine driving scenarios, the South Korean tech giant said.

Samsung said it will be applying its automotive IPs, latest processes, and packaging technologies on top of its 5nm node to make the chip high-performance and low-power.

The South Korean tech giant said the performance of CV3-AD685 has jumped by over 20 times. Samsung credited the application of its 5nm node to this performance jump. The company said it also plans to start offering its 4nm node for automotive applications.

Samsung said it plans to have non-mobile products account for over 50% of the revenue generated from its foundry business, or contract chip-producing business, by 2027.

The company first developed its 5nm technology back in 2019 and began mass production the following year.

Currently, the bulk of the revenue of Samsung Foundry comes from contract-producing mobile application processors for smartphones designed by Samsung and Qualcomm.

Samsung Foundry recorded high growth during the pandemic from chip shortage, culminating in the business unit posting its highest annual revenue to date in 2022. This likely won’t be the case in 2023, however, due to the global economic downturn that has caused demand for chips to drop.