samsung

China's largest DRAM manufacturer Changxin Storage (CXMT) has recently launched a bidding for equipment from partners for its new factory in Shanghai and is advancing capacity expansion in multiple locations. CXMT is currently mass-producing DRAM in Hefei Phase II and Beijing Phase I, with an estimated capacity of about 200,000 wafers per month, which may exceed 300,000 wafers per month by the end of the year.CXMT plans to open the new factory in Shanghai in the fourth quarter of this year, and the related equipment bidding has already started. Semiconductor equipment industry insiders say that the factory is planned to be expanded in two phases, with capacity significantly exceeding 100,000 wafers per month. Subsequently, there are plans to open a new factory in Hefei in the first half of next year and the earliest new factory in Beijing in the second half of next year, with another new factory in Hefei opening in the first half of the year after next.Equipment industry insiders say that CXMT has communicated with multiple parties regarding the timing of building factories in various locations. If all plans are realized, CXMT could add at least 70,000 to 80,000 wafers of capacity per month each year from this year until 2028, with a long-term goal of exceeding 600,000 wafers per month. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's DRAM capacities are estimated at about 700,000 wafers and 600,000 wafers per month, respectively.

According to The Bell, Samsung Electronics' foundry division has delayed its contract for application processor foundry production with Qualcomm due to differences in production unit prices, and both parties have failed to narrow the price gap, prolonging negotiations. There have been no significant technical issues, and the currently discussed 2-nanometer process has received a considerable degree of stabilization evaluation.Industry sources indicate that the Qualcomm AP foundry using Samsung's 2-nanometer process may be postponed until next year, and it is unclear whether production can commence within this year. Qualcomm had previously entrusted advanced AP production to Samsung before 2021, and Samsung has been continuously striving to regain this business in recent years, having secured clients such as Tesla and Broadcom.Informed sources state that the contract delay has made it difficult for Samsung to produce APs for Qualcomm this year, and both parties may turn to discuss the next generation of products. After acquiring strategic clients, Samsung is no longer willing to accept low-price orders as it did in the past.

KB Securities released a report on September 11, indicating that Samsung Electronics' HBM market share is expected to increase from 33% in the second quarter to 40% in the fourth quarter, mainly due to HBM4 sales in the third quarter growing more than three times quarter-on-quarter, and HBM4 is expected to account for over 60% of its total HBM sales in the second half of the year.Samsung Electronics has established comprehensive mass production of HBM4, supplied HBM4E samples to core customers, adopted the HBM5 architecture with 1c core bare chips and 2-nanometer base bare chips, and outlined the roadmap for the next-generation ZHBM. In terms of its foundry business, the 4-nanometer yield has stabilized above 80%, and the 2-nanometer GAA yield has rapidly increased to over 70%. KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-Won stated that the foundry business is expected to turn profitable starting in the third quarter, and the 2-nanometer yield may help it secure orders from major U.S. clients within the year.

On September 10, Kim Sang-hoon, the head of the packaging division at Samsung Electro-Mechanics, delivered a speech at the KPCA Show International Seminar INSIGHT 2026 held at the Incheon Songdo Conference Center, proposing a multilayer core (MLC) technology direction to address the large-scale and high-multilayer challenges of AI semiconductor packaging substrates.Kim Sang-hoon stated that in the past, the single-layer core (SLC) method, which increased the thickness of a single CCL, led to increased difficulty in processing internal vias and circuits as the core thickened, and the size of the vias became limited. The MLC approach shifts to a combination of CCL and PPG multilayers, or even a mixed structure of two CCLs, which can simultaneously enhance rigidity and wiring freedom, while also allowing for ground or signal wiring to be arranged in the PPG layer. A bonding layer added between the two CCLs can provide more stable support for the substrate, but the process is more complex.Currently, the commonly used bump pitch in mass production is above 90μm, with around 85μm being the turning point for printed fine solder ball processes. The difficulty significantly increases around 80μm, and the 55-45μm range may shift towards metal bumps. Glass cores are another option, offering higher rigidity and lower thermal expansion coefficients, which help reduce warping in large packages, but issues related to fragility and micro-hole plating technology need to be addressed. The substrate must meet signal integrity, power integrity, and mechanical integrity requirements simultaneously, with high-performance packaging substrate layers expected to evolve from about 20 layers at the 90mm level to 120mm and even more than 40 layers.

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, Samsung Electronics has begun developing its first AI glasses equipped with a display. This product not only provides audio functionality but also displays colorful visual information on the lenses, similar to the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses.Industry insiders revealed that Samsung Electronics is considering developing an ultra-small screen with a size of only 0.2 inches or smaller for the AI glasses, and last month assigned this R&D task to Samsung Display, outlining requirements regarding product dimensions, information display area, color, and price. Samsung Electronics is currently evaluating candidate panel solutions such as OLEDoS or LEDoS, and the industry expects this product to be released in the second half of 2027 or the first half of 2028.Currently, the specific details of the glasses have not been finalized. In terms of color display, Samsung Electronics is expected to use a limited grayscale with 4-bit color instead of a high-definition screen, and it has not yet decided whether to adopt a binocular or monocular design. Industry insiders indicate that RGB OLEDoS faces challenges in terms of price and yield, and it is likely that a white OLEDoS panel will be launched. Samsung previously released AI glasses without a display, co-developed by Samsung Electronics, Google, Gentle Monster, and Warby Parker.

TrendForce's latest research on the wafer foundry industry shows that in the second quarter of 2026, the total revenue of the world's top ten wafer foundries increased by 11.5% quarter-on-quarter, approaching $53.49 billion, setting a new record. The growth mainly comes from the continued demand exceeding supply for advanced processes in AI and HPC processors, as well as the rising demand for peripheral AI chips such as PMICs and power discrete devices; the early stocking of consumer supply chains for TVs, PCs, and laptops has also tightened the capacity of some mature processes.TSMC continues to lead, with revenue nearing $40.2 billion in the second quarter, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12.1%, and a market share of 72.5%. The demand for AI server GPUs and XPUs has kept its 5/4 nm and 3 nm capacities fully loaded, and the initial stocking of the new iPhone has also contributed, with 2 nm making its first revenue contribution. Samsung Foundry ranks second, with revenue of $3.26 billion, a slight quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.8%, and a market share dropping to 5.9%. SMIC ranks third, with revenue exceeding $3 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 20%, and a market share rising to 5.4%, narrowing the gap with Samsung.UMC maintains fourth place, with revenue of nearly $2.18 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12.7%, and a market share of 3.9%. GlobalFoundries is fifth, with revenue of approximately $1.79 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 9.3%, and a market share of 3.2%. Hua Hong Group ranks sixth, with revenue exceeding $1.27 billion, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3.5%. Tower, World Advanced, Jinghe Integrated, and Powerchip rank seventh to tenth, with revenues of $460 million, $451 million, $447 million, and $432 million, respectively.

According to a report by ZDNet Korea on the 9th, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek are advancing into the Intel EMIB-T packaging substrate supply chain, with related product development and testing already underway. EMIB connects chips with small silicon bridges, which Intel previously used mainly for its own chips; the improved EMIB-T is expanding external sales. The next-generation AI accelerator TPU that Google plans to launch in the second half of next year will be the first to use EMIB-T. EMIB-T inserts silicon vias for power transmission within the silicon bridge.Insiders say that Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed EMIB substrate samples over the years and is currently advancing EMIB-T supply based on the 2.1D packaging substrate concept. Recently, LG Innotek delivered EMIB-T packaging substrates to SK Hynix for sample testing, and both parties are installing HBM on the substrate to evaluate product characteristics.Currently, EMIB-T packaging substrates are supplied by Japan's Ibiden, Shinkawa Electric, Taiwan's Xinxing Electronics, and Austria's AT&S. Ibiden has decided to utilize idle factories to construct a dedicated production line for Intel's EMIB-T substrates, with an investment scale of about 20 trillion Korean won, and it is reported that they have already received advance payments from Google, Amazon, Intel, and others.

OpenAI's General Manager for South Korea, Harrison Kim, stated at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday: "One of the areas where we have made the most significant progress and received the most recognition in our collaboration with Samsung Electronics is the joint production and research for the next-generation chips we are developing."Kim also mentioned that Samsung Electronics is "one of the largest enterprises globally applying ChatGPT at scale," and pointed out that employees in the company, both in Korea and overseas, are using ChatGPT in research and development, marketing, and sales. Kim stated that as the chip technology required for faster and more complex computations continues to upgrade, the demand for memory chips will also keep growing, making collaboration with Korean semiconductor suppliers a priority for OpenAI's local office.

Market news says that Samsung will integrate Mistral AI into its semiconductor business.

On September 8, South Korean semiconductor concept stocks showed mixed performance, with related asset markets remaining active. According to data from the Gate platform, SK Hynix (000660) is currently priced at $1,332.38, with a 24-hour increase of 0.56%; Samsung Electronics (005930) is currently priced at $200.26, with a 24-hour decrease of 0.18%.According to CoinGlass data, both SK Hynix and Samsung have high trading activity in the contract market. Among them, trading of related stock derivatives on Gate is active: the SKHX contract has a position amount of nearly $158 million, ranking second across the network, with a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $177 million; the Samsung contract has a position amount of $9.51 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $15.8 million, both ranking second across the network.

According to a report by ZDNet Korea, Samsung Display plans to significantly increase its OLED supply for Apple's foldable smartphones and iPads next year. The target for foldable OLEDs will rise from about 8 million units this year to 15 million units next year, while OLEDs for iPads will increase from about 2 million units this year to 9 million units next year, totaling an increase from about 10 million units this year to approximately 24 million units.Apple is a core customer for Samsung Display's small-sized OLEDs. Market research firm UBI Research estimates that the total demand for OLEDs for iPhones this year is about 264.7 million units, with Samsung Display supplying about 144 million units, and a target of approximately 148 million units next year. Apple will launch its first foldable smartphone in the second half of this year, and Samsung Display plans to supply a 7.8-inch foldable OLED. Starting in 2024, iPads will adopt OLEDs in the Pro models, expanding to the mini this year and further to the Air next year.The report cites industry insiders who say that if the foldable screen is priced at around $2,500, shipments this year and next year may be approximately 6 million and 11 million units, respectively; higher prices or supply chain issues could further reduce shipments. Samsung Display's supply targets may be adjusted according to market conditions.

According to South Korea's "Cultural Daily," Samsung Electronics' wafer fab in Taylor, Texas, is expected to enter trial operation around the end of this month, as orders for 2-nanometer chips from Tesla, Broadcom, Arm, and others continue to pour in, with pre-production capacity nearing full load. The plant has accumulated an investment of $37 billion since 2022, with plans to begin trial operation early next month and mass production next year, with an initial monthly capacity of about 50,000 wafers, close to TSMC's approximately 80,000 wafers.The report states that the Taylor plant will produce Tesla's next-generation artificial intelligence chip AI5, Broadcom's new generation communication chips, and Arm's smart device AI chips, among others. Samsung's 2-nanometer yield has increased from about 60% earlier this year to around 80% recently. The company sent personnel for process, equipment, and yield to the plant in June, and began installing equipment in July. At a recent earnings meeting, Samsung projected that this year's 2-nanometer order volume would more than double compared to last year, and stated that NVIDIA's inference chip Grok3 began mass production last month; Samsung also recently raised the foundry price for 4-nanometer chips by up to 15%.The second Taylor plant is scheduled to start construction by the end of this year and begin mass production in 2030. Samsung has requested major partners to complete the relevant production equipment safety certifications in advance, and some partners are considering sending dozens of personnel to the local area. At the same time, Intel issued about $20 billion in new shares last month and expanded investments in 2-nanometer level 18A and 1.4-nanometer level 14A, while Japan's Rapidus completed its 2-nanometer factory in Hokkaido last month and entered the wafer trial production stage.

French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI announced the completion of a €3 billion Series D funding round, with a post-investment valuation exceeding €21 billion. The company stated that this is the largest equity financing for a technology company in Europe to date. Samsung Electronics led the round, with the Scaleup Europe Fund managed by EQT and existing investor PSG Equity co-leading. New investors include Advent, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.Existing investors such as a16z, ASML, Belfius, BNP Paribas CIB, Bpifrance, Carmignac, DST Global, Eurazeo, General Catalyst, Headline, Hillspire, Index Ventures, Korelya Capital, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Solar Fund under Phoenix Court (including LocalGlobe, Latitude, and Solar), and Salesforce Ventures continued to participate. The funds will be used for cutting-edge model research, computing power and infrastructure expansion, as well as commercialization and international market development. Mistral AI currently operates in 20 countries, serving over 125 companies, including Airbus, ASML, and HSBC.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Kim Kyung-hoon, the General Manager of OpenAI Korea, stated at the Samsung SDS "Real Summit 2026" conference held at COEX in Seoul that the productivity gap between the top 10% of AI application companies and medium-level companies has expanded from 2.6 times to 8.6 times from January to June this year, with the gap in the manufacturing sector reaching 5.3 times.Kim Kyung-hoon pointed out that the core of widening the gap lies in "connection"—21% of employees in leading companies use AI plugins integrated with business systems weekly, while the figure for ordinary companies is only 9%. He proposed a three-stage methodology for corporate AI transformation: "Turn it on, Delegate it, Keep it" (Connection, Delegation, Retention), emphasizing business process redesign rather than merely introducing AI tools.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Samsung SDS held the corporate AX conference "Real Summit 2026" at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul on September 8, officially announcing its "Multidimensional AI Full Stack" strategy. The company became the first in the country to join OpenAI's "Daybreak" security cooperation program, while also signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Anthropic to jointly expand AX business.In addition, Samsung SDS announced its entry into the Robotics Transformation (RX) field, planning to launch a "Robot Orchestration Platform" in 2027, and forming the "Team REX" ecological alliance with 10 global physical AI companies including Rainbow Robotics and Walden Robotics.

KB Securities warned that the inventory of memory semiconductors at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix has fallen to less than 10 days of supply, and the available supply next year will be significantly insufficient. The agency reported on Monday that investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure is expanding at an unprecedented pace, leading to a severe supply shortage in the memory chip market. A key factor is the transition to HBM4, which requires about three times the wafers of traditional DRAM, and limited wafer capacity will reduce the available capacity of traditional DRAM.KB Securities expects that next year, the demand for DRAM and NAND will exceed supply by more than 10 percentage points. Research director Kim Dong-won stated that artificial intelligence servers will consume HBM, server DDR5, and enterprise-grade solid-state drives, potentially leading to a historic shortage. Global hyperscale data center operators have raised their expectations for artificial intelligence infrastructure investment next year to $1.3 trillion, a 60% increase from the previous year. The agency anticipates that memory semiconductors will account for 57% of total investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure next year, up from 14% last year, with TrendForce estimating this ratio could reach as high as 68%. Samsung Electronics' stock price has dropped nearly 28% from its peak, while SK Hynix has fallen nearly 40%.

Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry division has recently surpassed 50% in the allocation of production capacity for the sixth-generation high bandwidth memory HBM4 substrate chips in the 4-nanometer process. The industry states that this division will invest more than half of its 4-nanometer wafers into HBM4 substrate chip manufacturing in the second half of this year to expand supply to companies like NVIDIA, Broadcom, and AMD.Samsung initiated mass production and shipment of HBM4 in February this year and plans to increase supply starting from the third quarter, significantly increasing the related wafer input since mid-year. This chip is based on Samsung's wafer foundry 4-nanometer (SF4) process. As of last month, over 50% of its total 4-nanometer capacity has been allocated to HBM4 substrate chips. According to insiders, Samsung's 4-nanometer process is currently at full capacity, with HBM4 substrate chips accounting for about 50% to 60%, and this high proportion will be maintained in the second half of the year.Samsung's wafer foundry production lines at Pyeongtaek Plant 2 and Plant 3 are mass-producing processes ranging from 4 to 7 nanometers, with a monthly capacity of about 30,000 wafers for the 4-nanometer process. Based on this, the wafer input related to HBM4 substrate chips is estimated to be about 15,000 wafers per month. During the second quarter earnings call, Samsung stated that it expects HBM4 revenue to increase more than threefold quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter, with HBM4 revenue in the second half expected to exceed 60% of the company's overall HBM revenue.

Future Asset Securities analyst Kim Young-gun stated that the expansion of Samsung Electronics' HBM shipments for AI applications is expected to offset the impact of the slowdown in growth of general-purpose memory chips next year. It is anticipated that Samsung Electronics' HBM shipment capacity and average selling price will soar by 57% and 49% respectively by 2027, expected to surpass the projected growth rates of 16% and 20% for general-purpose memory chips.Future Asset expects Samsung's earnings to be weighed down by the strengthening of the Korean won against the US dollar, but overall, it will remain robust. The agency has lowered its operating profit forecast for Samsung in 2026 by 5.7% to 370.057 trillion won and reduced it by 4.2% to 535.682 trillion won for 2027.

According to South Korean media Greened.kr, Samsung Electronics and Arm have officially launched a joint research and development project for edge AI chips. Arm approved a one-time engineering fee at the end of August for the development of the next-generation edge AI SoC chip and officially started the project with Samsung Electronics.The project adopts a collaborative model where Arm provides core technology, and Samsung Electronics integrates and implements it, aiming to jointly develop customized chips for end customers.