IBM signed an agreement with Samsung Wafer Factory to use Samsung's 7-nanometer EUVL process to manufacture its next-generation processors, which will be used for IBM Power Systems, IBM Z and Linux ONE Systems. IBM's former partner, Global Foundries, announced earlier this year that it would abandon the 7-nanometer process.

This decision affected its long-term partners AMD and IBM, which subsequently announced that it would use TSMC's 7-nanometer process to manufacture its next-generation processors, and now IBM has announced the use of Samsung's 7-nanometer process.