Samsung’s foundry push has AI orders, but the scale gap remains

Samsung is pushing its foundry business towards advanced AI-chip work, including reported 2nm orders, while still trailing TSMC by a wide margin in foundry market share. The contest matters because an AI chip design is only useful if a factory can make it reliably and at scale.

Watch Desk analysis

What happened

Chosunbiz reports that Samsung has maintained its investment in foundry manufacturing despite losses and sluggish performance. The article says the company expects its 2nm order backlog to have grown by more than 130% year on year, and that Tesla’s AI6 chip is due to be made on 2nm at Samsung’s Taylor, Texas, plant.

The report also says Samsung has agreed with Broadcom to use its sub-2nm process, while its HBM4 memory base die has entered mass production on a 4nm process. These are reported company developments, not proof that Samsung has solved the manufacturing challenges facing its foundry business.

Why it matters

The same report cites TrendForce figures putting TSMC at 72.5% of foundry market share in the second quarter, against Samsung’s 5.9%. That gap gives the new orders context: winning named projects is welcome, but the test is whether Samsung can turn them into dependable production and more customers.

For AI hardware, the foundry is part of the product. A promising design cannot reach users if manufacturing yield, capacity or customer confidence falls short.

Our read

Samsung has tangible AI-related work to point to, rather than just another grand pledge to become a chipmaking contender. But the market-share figures make clear that a few high-profile orders are a beginning, not a comeback. The factory has to deliver.

What to watch

• Whether Samsung reports improved yields and utilisation at its next earnings update.
• Whether the reported AI-chip projects enter production on schedule.
• Whether new external customers follow the orders named in the report.

Discussion spark: Would a handful of marquee AI-chip orders persuade you that Samsung’s foundry is turning a corner, or does market share matter more until production scales?

Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.