Samsung Sets Big Goals for Foundry Business

Samsung aims to start using 1.4 nanometer technology for foundry production of computer chips by 2027 and secure the top spot in the global foundry business. 

The Korean electronics giant announced the goal at an event in San Jose, California on Monday. Around 500 people from client companies and other businesses attended the first offline event Samsung hosted since the coronavirus pandemic. 

"The technology development goal down to 1.4 nanometer and foundry platforms specialized for each application, together with stable supply through consistent investment are all part of Samsung's strategies to secure customers' trust and support their success," said Choi Si-young, head of Samsung's foundry business.  

Foundries are facilities where one company -- in this case Samsung -- makes the computer chips and others build the required circuits so as to spare them investment in their own factories that may not be fully used all the time. 

Samsung was the first chipmaker to use 3-nanometer technology in June of this year, three months ahead of rival TSMC of Taiwan. It hopes to start using 2-nanometer technology in 2025. 

But so far it lags way behind TSMC in securing client companies for its foundries. According to market tracker TrendForce, TSMC accounts for 53.4 percent of the global foundry market as of the second quarter of this year, compared to Samsung’s 16.5 percent. 

Industry watchers believe Samsung is having a tough time due to its small output capacity. To remedy the problem, Samsung came up with a strategy focusing on building production facilities first before bringing other companies on board. That way it hopes to more than triple output capacity by 2027.