Samsung has started shipping the world's first 3-nanometer (nm) chips from its chip-making complex in Hwaseong, South Korea's Gyeonggi Province, the tech giant revealed on Monday at a ceremony to celebrate the shipment.

The company said its first-generation 3nm process has reduced power consumption by 45 percent and improved performance by 23 percent using gate-all-around (GAA) process, compared to the current 5nm chips using fin field-effect transistor technology (FinFET).

According to Samsung, its engineers started researching on GAA transistors in the early 2000s and went on to experiment with the design from 2017. Last month, the company became the first chipmaker to begin mass production of the 3nm chips.

Samsung's top rival in the semiconductor business, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), is expected to begin its 3nm chip production around the fourth quarter of this year. Although TSMC will still use the FinFET design, the company will make the switch to GAA process with the transition to a 2nm node.