Samsung Elec foundry business may pick up after Biden visit

[Photo by MK DB]

Samsung Electronics raises hopes for securing new foundry work from U.S. companies after it received a special visit from U.S. President Joe Biden and his entourage of business tycoons and officials to its next-gen chip processing facility in Pyeongtaek campus.

Samsung Electronics is readying a high-profile groundbreaking ceremony for its $17 billion foundry project in Taylor City, Texas, next month.

The groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be attended by a large group of U.S. local and federal political leaders and possibly President Joe Biden as he must pitch job-making achievements ahead of the mid-term elections in November.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee will fly to the event if presidential guest is confirmed. Lee had hosted Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during their tour to the world’s largest semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek about 50 km from Seoul on Saturday.

The Taylor City foundry plant to sit on a 5 million square meter site is scheduled for completion and operation in the second half of 2024.

[Photo by MK DB]

Samsung Electronics plans to produce advanced system chips from the new plant to meet the demands from 5G, high performance computing, and artificial intelligence areas.

The new plant is expected to be equipped with semiconductor processing facilities that can print nodes of less than 5 nanometers in width. The company’s existing plant in Austin, Texas has produced power chips using a 14 nm process for IT and communication devices.

With its U.S. investment, Samsung Electronics is determined to meet the goals of ‘System Semiconductor 2030 Vision’ i, aiming to take market leadership not only in memory chips but also in system semiconductors including foundries by 2030.

[Photo by MK DB]

According to market tracker TrendForce, Taiwan’s TSMC ranked first with a 52.1 percent share in the global foundry market, followed by Samsung Electronics with 18.3 percent as of the end of last year.

Samsung Electronics lags far behind TSMC in terms of market share, but it claims leadership in chipmaking innovation as it has moved onto 3-nm processing.

Samsung Electronics unveiled a prototype of commercial-ready next-generation Gate-All-Around (GAA)-based 3-nm chips during President Biden’s visit to its plant. GAA is a new processing technology with improved performance and reduced chip area and power consumption compared to existing FinFET technology.

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