Samsung Foundry
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Foundry Division)
Market Share
~15% advanced nodes
Key Product
GAA 3nm logic, advanced packaging
Full briefing▼ Expand
Samsung Foundry is the world's second-largest contract chip manufacturer, competing with TSMC at the leading edge with its 3nm gate-all-around (GAA) process. Samsung manufactures chips for Qualcomm, IBM, and other major customers; it fabricated NVIDIA Ampere-era GPU dies at 8nm but NVIDIA has since moved all GPU production to TSMC. The foundry division has faced yield challenges at 3nm, which has allowed TSMC to consolidate its lead in advanced logic. Samsung is investing heavily in its Taylor, Texas fab (part of the CHIPS Act investment wave) to establish a US manufacturing presence. As an integrated device manufacturer (IDM), Samsung uniquely combines foundry services with its own memory and logic chip design capabilities.
Connected companies
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Critical path — raw silicon to deployment
The tightest single-source dependencies, in order.
RAW MATERIALS
Graphite (CN)
High-purity graphite crucibles and isostatic graphite blocks
RAW MATERIALS
Tungsten (CN)
Ammonium paratungstate (APT) and tungsten powder
RAW MATERIALS
Germanium (CN)
Germanium metal and GeO₂ for SiGe epitaxy
FOUNDRIES
Samsung Foundry
GAA 3nm logic, advanced packaging
OSAT / PACKAGING
ASE Technology
Flip-chip BGA, wire-bond, SiP, fan-out packaging
CLOUD PROVIDERS
Baidu
Kunlun AI chip, ERNIE Bot (Wenxin Yiyan), Baidu AI Cloud
Export controls touching Samsung Foundry
China Gallium & Germanium Export Controls (Aug 2023)
China's Ministry of Commerce and Customs implemented export licensing requirements for gallium and germanium products, effective August 1, 2023. The controls cover 8 gallium-related items (including gallium metal, gallium nitride, and gallium arsenide) and 6 germanium-related items (including germanium metal, germanium dioxide, and germanium epitaxial growth wafers). Exporters must apply to the Ministry of Commerce for licenses, which are reviewed for national security and non-proliferation considerations. China produces approximately 80% of the world's gallium and 60% of its germanium, making these controls a direct leverage point over semiconductor and compound-semiconductor supply chains globally.
▲ 13 companies affected
QWho supplies Samsung Foundry?
Samsung Foundry relies on 15 upstream suppliers across the AI chip supply chain.
ASML (Sole maker of EUV lithography machines), Tokyo Electron (Leading maker of etch and deposition equipment), Applied Materials (Largest semiconductor equipment maker by revenue), KLA (Dominant maker of wafer inspection and metrology tools), Lam Research (Leading supplier of etch and deposition equipment), and 10 more.
QWhat does Samsung Foundry make?
Second-largest advanced foundry, competing at 3nm
Key products GAA 3nm logic, advanced packaging