On November 16, Samsung Electronics' foundry business achieved a reported yield of 50% to 60% for its 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, according to South Korean media outlet Dailian. The company also announced that two major Chinese cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturers—MicroBT and Canaan—have placed orders for Samsung's 2nm GAA chips to power their upcoming high-performance mining devices, reports Hankyung.

Samsung's 2nm process continues to use its GAA transistor architecture first introduced on the second-generation 3nm node. Compared with Samsung's second-generation 3nm, the 2nm node offers roughly a 5% performance improvement, an 8% reduction in power consumption, and a 5% decrease in chip area. These gains help optimize energy efficiency and computation density—key factors for cryptocurrency mining hardware, where repetitive high-density logic calculations directly impact profitability.

The company has commenced production of MicroBT's orders at its S3 line in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, while Canaan plans to start production in early 2026, with deliveries expected in the second half of that year. These orders account for approximately 10% of Samsung's total 2nm capacity, translating to around 2,000 300mm (12-inch) wafers per month.

While Samsung is gradually diversifying its 2nm foundry customer base across smartphones, servers, automotive, and cryptocurrency applications, industry analysts note that the path to profitability hinges on securing core clients. The world's largest cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer, Bitmain, has yet to adopt Samsung's 2nm GAA chips, continuing to rely on TSMC due to its proven yield, advanced technology, and timely deliveries.

Samsung's 2nm process is also slated for expansion to its Taylor facility in Texas, where ASML recently formed a dedicated team to deliver and install next-generation wafer fabrication equipment. Once operational, the U.S. plant is expected to produce over 15,000 wafers per month by 2027.

In consumer and mobile markets, Samsung's 2nm node is powering its own Exynos 2600 SoC. Qualcomm is reportedly evaluating Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 samples on Samsung's 2nm process, with dual-sourcing including Samsung likely to be implemented with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 in late 2026. Samsung has also completed the basic design of its second-generation 2nm GAA process and is developing a third-generation variant, known as SF2P+.

Despite trailing TSMC—whose 2nm process reportedly achieves around 80% yield—Samsung's recent progress indicates a steady effort to compete in the cutting-edge foundry space while leveraging pricing flexibility to attract select customers in cost-sensitive sectors such as cryptocurrency mining.