Samsung Electronics has begun producing semiconductors using a three-nanometer process, becoming the world's first chipmaker to do so.

The tech giant announced on Thursday that it started production of a three-nanometer process node, applying Gate-All-Around, or "GAA," transistor architecture.

GAA technology, applied by Samsung for the first time in the world, surrounds the four channels of a chip transistor with gates, enhancing performance speed and power efficiency.

Samsung says the first-generation three-nanometer process can reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared to the conventional five-nanometer process.

With the start of chip production for high-performance computing, it plans to apply the three-nanometer technology to mobile devices in the form of system-on-chips, which fully contain an operable product and system on a single chip.

The move comes after Samsung announced a 171 trillion won ($132 billion) investment plan last year to overtake Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSMC) as the world's top logic chipmaker by 2030. 

TSMC, the world's most advanced foundry chipmaker according to data provider TrendForce, currently controls some 54 percent of the world's contract-based production of chips, used by firms such as Apple and Qualcomm. Samsung ranks second with a 16.3 percent market share.