Samsung Makes Quiet Play to Win MediaTek from TSMC

In what could signal a more aggressive push for Samsung’s foundry business, top boss Jay Y. Lee has reportedly made a quiet trip to Taiwan. The visit comes as Samsung looks to challenge TSMC more directly in advanced chip manufacturing.

According to a report from Digitimes, Samsung chairman Jay Y. Lee met with Rick Tsai, CEO of MediaTek. Samsung is apparently looking to pull MediaTek away from TSMC. Winning MediaTek as a foundry client would be a major breakthrough and an immediate blow to TSMC’s dominance.

Samsung reportedly pitches MediaTek with added incentives

Samsung is reportedly offering incentives that go beyond standard foundry deals. This includes preferential access to its memory chips, an area where it holds a clear advantage. With memory prices rising and supply tightening, this could be a compelling factor for MediaTek’s upcoming Dimensity platforms.

There’s also a timing advantage. TSMC is expected to face tight capacity at 2nm, while Samsung is believed to have more room to accommodate new clients. That gives Samsung a window to pitch itself as a more flexible option for companies that need advanced node production.

As the report mentions, Samsung has played similar moves before. It has previously used bundled deals to attract clients such as Qualcomm. In this strategy, the company combines foundry services with memory supply to create a more attractive overall package than what TSMC can offer.

At the same time, demand across the semiconductor industry is shifting fast, largely driven by AI and high-performance computing. Samsung’s recent momentum in memory is giving it more confidence to push harder on the foundry side.

Whether MediaTek makes the switch from TSMC to Samsung remains uncertain. As of this writing, neither MediaTek nor Samsung has publicly announced any talks. However, Samsung’s direct outreach shows it wants a bigger slice of the foundry market.