Samsung Increases Prices for Advanced Foundry Processes

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Samsung has increased prices for some of its advanced chip manufacturing processes. The company now appears to have bargaining power in the foundry space, thanks to strong investment by global tech giants in AI semiconductors. This could support a return to quarterly profitability in the coming quarters.

The AI boom appears to give Samsung pricing power in the foundry business

According to a report from Chosun, Samsung has increased prices by about 15% for new clients using its advanced 4nm and 5nm manufacturing processes. Both are high-demand nodes. The price hike also applies to some 8nm processes used for automotive semiconductors.

Samsung has been suffering losses in its foundry business for several years. However, things have been improving lately, with reports returning to profitability on a monthly basis last month. Industry watchers say that arch-rival and leader TSMC’s tight production capacity has opened the door for Korean foundry.

Furthermore, TSMC is charging higher prices for its cutting-edge manufacturing processes, which may have urged some clients to look for alternative foundry partners. Of course, Samsung is emerging as one of the best options.

In the AI era, global technology giants are investing heavily in AI infrastructure, creating strong demand for advanced chip manufacturing services. For example, Google reportedly wants to include Samsung in its supply chain for the next generations of Axion chips and parts of its TPUs. Likewise, Chinese EV maker BYD could ink a deal with Samsung for future autonomous-driving chips.

It looks like Samsung wants to take advantage of stronger demand and improving market conditions. As a result, the company has decided to increase prices for select chip manufacturing processes. It will be interesting to see if the firm also raises prices for its most advanced 2nm node in the coming months. 

Meanwhile, TSMC is gearing up to increase wafer supply prices by 5-10% for cutting-edge processes such as 3nm, 5nm, and 7nm.

Written by

Binay Konwar

Binay Konwar started his blogging journey in 2014 and has since written plenty of tech articles. At present, he is working as a News Writer at SammyGuru, covering everything about Samsung. He holds a Master's degree in Mathematics, but his real passion lies in tech and writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess and watching movies.

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