foundry

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.

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.

SK Hynix stated on the 9th that the development of the next-generation memory 3D DRAM semiconductor can utilize foundry processes. The day before, at the 2026 SK Hynix Future Forum held at the Supex Center in the Icheon campus, Vice President Kim Kyung-hoon and Son Ho-young presented the main technical directions for 3D DRAM, including the use of logic foundry processes for DRAM peripheral circuits, maximizing data bus bandwidth, and ultra-short distance transmission.3D DRAM is the next-generation DRAM that vertically stacks the originally planar storage cells to improve integration. The two stated that achieving this technology requires addressing not only design and heat dissipation issues but also challenges in fine interconnections, bonding, and process integration in the packaging field. As the boundaries between front-end and back-end packaging, foundry, and memory technology converge, collaborative optimization beyond existing fields will become more important. Son Ho-young mentioned that 3D technology is changing the technological boundaries between wafer fabs and packaging, and it is necessary to establish an optimization and new collaboration system that transcends existing fields alongside innovations in advanced packaging technology.In a related presentation, Professor Shin Chang-hwan from Korea University stated that 3D DRAM is not only about the vertical stacking of chips but also a technology that breaks the boundaries between memory and logic. As device miniaturization approaches its limits and the time and power consumption associated with data movement between systems and memory increases, the shift to 3D technology is inevitable. He proposed a 3D integrated design framework that links materials, devices, packaging, and architecture through artificial intelligence. SK Hynix President Kwon Oh-joon, in his speech, remarked that the past memory market resembled a straight road where the competition was about who could run faster, but now it resembles a constantly changing curve, making it important to grasp the speed and direction of external environmental changes and adapt flexibly in addition to internal capabilities.

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.

According to a report by Juheng.com, after Samsung Electronics took the lead in raising prices for some advanced and mature processes, the market expects TSMC to follow suit, with prices for its various processes likely to increase by 10% to 15% across the board. According to reports from TrendForce and Nomura Securities, TSMC has completed a new round of price negotiations with customers in mid-year, raising prices for the tight supply of some 3-nanometer N3 processes by up to 15% for the second half of the year. The market further anticipates that by early 2027 at the latest, prices for TSMC's advanced processes such as N2, N3, and N5 may increase by another 5% to 10%.TSMC's N2 and N3 capacities have almost been fully booked by Apple and NVIDIA. The prices for mature processes such as N12, N16, and N28, which have not been adjusted for three consecutive years, may also see a simultaneous increase, with a maximum rise of about 10%. According to estimates from Citi Securities, TSMC's capital expenditure will reach $80 billion in 2027, further increasing to $90 billion in 2028, with this year's capital expenditure already raised to between $52 billion and $56 billion. TSMC announced in July that it would expand its investment in the United States to $265 billion. According to Reuters, Samsung raised prices for some new orders of advanced processes in July, with the 4-nanometer SF4 seeing increases of 10% to 15% for customers in China and the United States.

According to Reuters, citing informed sources, Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some new advanced foundry service orders by up to 15%, due to a surge in demand for AI chips leading to tight capacity. The company has long lagged behind TSMC in the foundry sector. Demand from Chinese customers is particularly strong, but Samsung must prioritize serving U.S. customers and reserve some capacity to support its own chip production, making it unable to take on all orders. Affected by U.S. export restrictions on advanced chip equipment to China, Chinese companies are increasingly reliant on overseas foundries, with some Chinese customers accepting the maximum price increase.Informed sources stated that Samsung raised the prices for the 4nm (SF4) process in July, with price increases of 10% to 15% for Chinese and U.S. customers, and 5% to 10% for Taiwanese customers; the price for 5nm (SF5) wafers increased by 10% to 15%, nearly 10% higher than the older 8nm process. The SF4 production line at the Pyeongtaek factory has been operating at full capacity since the end of last year, producing logic chips for customers like Qualcomm and providing basic bare chips for Samsung's own HBM. Analysts point out that after TSMC's advanced capacity was fully booked, customers turned to Samsung and Intel, giving Samsung room to raise prices.Samsung's foundry business has been continuously losing money since 2022, but the company expects to quickly turn a profit driven by improved utilization rates, yield improvements, and rising prices. Foundry revenue in the second half of the year is expected to grow by double digits year-on-year, with advanced processes accounting for more than half, and AI and high-performance computing applications accounting for over 30%. Companies like Tesla, Apple, Broadcom, and NVIDIA have already reached relevant cooperation agreements with Samsung, and Google is also in talks to use the SF4 process.

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is adjusting the original purpose of its NRD-K Line 2 at the Giheung campus from a research and development facility to a wafer foundry line, with the main target product being the 2nm base chips required for NVIDIA's HBM. This production line is expected to be operational in the second half of 2028, adopting a "Send-Fab" model, which involves receiving wafers from other mass production lines and performing specific processes.NRD-K is the most advanced composite research and development campus built by Samsung Electronics to seize future semiconductor technology, with a total investment of approximately 20 trillion won, planning for three production lines, of which the first line is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. This adjustment aims to proactively respond to the expansion of HBM demand driven by investments in AI infrastructure. Samsung plans to first apply the 2nm process to custom HBM and HBM5 to maintain performance advantages.Industry insiders point out that the scale of NRD-K Line 2 is relatively small, making it suitable for operation in the Send-Fab format. However, there are still about two years until the production line is operational, and the final purpose may be adjusted again based on market conditions. Samsung had previously considered using this production line for DRAM production, but after modifications to the relevant plans this month, DRAM capacity will be more concentrated in the Pyeongtaek campus. Equipment procurement orders have not yet been officially issued.

On August 11, TSMC held a board meeting and approved a capital budget of approximately $29.443 billion to expand advanced process and advanced packaging capacity to meet the strong demand brought by AI and high-performance computing. In May of this year, the board had already approved $31.283 billion, bringing the total approved capital budget for the year to $60.726 billion (approximately NT$1.96 trillion). TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei stated at the July earnings call that in the coming years, 13 advanced wafer fabs and advanced packaging plants will continue to be built in Taiwan, covering Kaohsiung, Hsinchu Baoshan, and Tainan, with the total investment scale in Arizona, USA also increasing to $26.5 billion.The board also approved the establishment of a joint venture with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, with TSMC's investment cap set at 282 billion yen. The joint venture will be located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, aiming to mass-produce next-generation image sensors for smartphones by 2029. In addition, the board approved a cash dividend of NT$7 per share for the second quarter, with the ex-dividend date set for December 10. TSMC will provide eligible foreign shareholders with the option to receive cash dividends in US dollars.

According to Bloomberg, former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI fund Situational Awareness has splurged $400 million this week to support a private company, which is the semiconductor manufacturing startup Source Foundry. It is reported that VC giant Sequoia Capital has also provided support for this startup. So far, representatives from Situational Awareness and Source Foundry have not responded to requests for comments, while Sequoia Capital has declined to confirm the hedge fund's investment situation.It is reported that Source Foundry is dedicated to developing a semiconductor manufacturing process that is simpler, cheaper, and faster than existing methods, aiming to bridge the widening gap between the demand for AI computing power and the capacity expansion of chip manufacturing. Analysts believe that Leopold Aschenbrenner's large-scale investment reflects the ongoing strong demand in the market for new chip manufacturing technologies, as AI developers' demand for computing power is increasing day by day. However, this investment also reveals that Situational Awareness has formed a highly concentrated risk exposure before facing significant financial pressure due to severe fluctuations in its publicly held technology positions.

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics' 4nm wafer foundry capacity is fully loaded until next year, mainly driven by a surge in HBM4 orders and unexpected orders for LPU "Grok3" from Nvidia for inference. To address the capacity bottleneck, Samsung is actively recommending the validated 5nm process as an alternative to customers. This process was originally aimed at automotive chips and is now expanding into the server and high-performance AI/NPU chip sectors.The report states that in the recent 3-4 months, demand for 5nm from customers has significantly increased, mainly from Chinese and Indian fabless companies that have shifted due to tight supply of advanced processes from TSMC and geopolitical factors. Additionally, inquiries from customers regarding the 2nm process are also ongoing.

Antpool mined Bitcoin block 941,881 at 15:49:35 UTC, and Foundry USA mined another version at the same height 12 seconds later, leading to a brief formation of two competing chains on the Bitcoin blockchain.Subsequently, ViaBTC extended block 941,882 on the Antpool version, and Foundry USA continued to extend its own branch. Foundry USA then consecutively mined blocks 941,883 to 941,886, with its branch accumulating more work. Nodes then reorganized to the Foundry USA version, and the blocks mined by Antpool and ViaBTC were orphaned. Relevant miners lost the corresponding block rewards and transaction fees, and transactions not confirmed on the winning chain re-entered the memory pool and were confirmed in subsequent blocks.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia citing multiple informed sources, TSMC (TSM.N) plans to raise the foundry prices for advanced and mature process chips by up to 10% in 2027, in response to rising costs of materials, manufacturing equipment, and the construction of new overseas plants. TSMC has begun discussions with customers regarding the price increase, which involves 7-nanometer and more advanced processes. This segment contributed approximately 77% of TSMC's revenue in the quarter from April to June this year.Informed sources indicated that the basic price increase will range from 5% to 10%, depending on the customer and product. For new orders of high-performance computing (HPC) chips that exceed the customer's original forecast, TSMC plans to impose an additional premium of 10% to 15% on top of the basic price increase. As a result, the overall price increase for some advanced process chip orders may exceed 10%. In terms of mature processes (including 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 28-nanometer processes, and other traditional technologies), TSMC plans to raise prices by up to 10%, but some products will see increases below this level. The mature process business accounted for about 23% of the company's revenue in the last quarter. Informed sources stated that relevant negotiations began around June and were finalized in July, with the new prices set to take effect in early 2027.

According to reports from South Korean media, Samsung Electronics' foundry business is accelerating its expansion in the global AI chip market. Following last year's acquisition of Tesla's AI chip orders, Samsung is currently advancing production cooperation for customized chips (ASIC) with Meta and Anthropic.It is reported that Meta is negotiating a next-generation ASIC design and production contract with Samsung worth over 10 trillion Korean won. Meta's third-generation AI accelerator "MTIA" plans to shift from TSMC to large-scale production using Samsung's advanced 2-nanometer process, with early chip architecture design being jointly conducted by Samsung's System LSI division to align with its rapid six-month development cycle. In addition, the American AI company Anthropic is also evaluating the use of Samsung's 2-nanometer process to develop exclusive ASICs, aiming to advance the internalization of its AI infrastructure.Industry insiders point out that with the influx of AI chip orders from global tech giants, along with ongoing negotiations for automotive chip foundry agreements with BYD, Samsung's foundry business is expected to approach a medium to long-term order reserve of 50 trillion Korean won, and is likely to turn a profit in operating income in the fourth quarter of this year.

According to Nikkei Asia, due to the surge in demand for AI infrastructure leading to tight advanced chip capacity at TSMC, companies such as BYD, Google, AMD, and Tesla are increasingly turning to Samsung Electronics for chip foundry services.Insiders revealed that BYD is negotiating with Samsung to produce future generations of autonomous driving chips; Google is exploring the possibility of Samsung manufacturing the next-generation Axion processor and some TPU chips expected to launch in 2028; AMD is also in talks for Samsung to produce some future CPUs starting in 2028. Additionally, Tesla's upcoming AI6 chip will also be produced at Samsung's Texas factory.Industry insiders pointed out that although Samsung still lags behind TSMC in chip yield, its available capacity advantage is making it an attractive option. At the same time, due to TSMC's capacity constraints and geopolitical factors, an increasing number of Chinese and American companies are adopting a diversified supply chain strategy to spread orders among multiple foundries.

According to Fortune, Bitcoin mining pool giant Foundry has officially launched a new mining pool for the privacy coin Zcash.Foundry CEO Mike Colyer stated that this move aims to respond to the growing demand from large institutions for privacy coins. Currently, the mining pool has attracted several institutional miners, with its output accounting for nearly one-third of the newly added Zcash on the entire network.Zcash achieves transaction privacy based on zero-knowledge proof technology while supporting selective disclosure to meet compliance requirements, making it more favored by institutions compared to its competitor Monero.Boosted by this news, the price of Zcash has increased by over 75% in the past 30 days, with a current market capitalization of approximately $6.3 billion. Foundry currently controls about 31% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, making it the largest Bitcoin mining pool operator in the world.

According to U.Today, the Bitcoin network experienced a rare two-block reorganization last night. At height 941880, the network briefly split into two competing chains. AntPool mined block 941881, and ViaBTC subsequently mined block 941882 on the same chain; meanwhile, Foundry USA mined its version of block 941881 and continued to mine its version of block 941882. After Foundry USA continued to mine blocks 941883, 941884, and 941885, the competing chain was broken, and the blocks from AntPool and ViaBTC were discarded as orphan blocks.This reorganization was not an attack or a failure, but rather a normal result of Bitcoin's decentralized consensus mechanism. Single-block reorganizations occur from time to time, but two-block reorganizations are relatively rare, indicating that the tie between the two chains lasted for an entire block cycle. Foundry USA mined seven consecutive blocks from 941879 to 941885.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining pool operator Foundry Digital plans to launch a domestic Zcash mining pool in the U.S. next month, providing a mining platform built around compliance reviews, reporting standards, and operational controls for institutional and publicly traded company miners.Foundry CEO Mike Colyer stated that Zcash has evolved into an institutional-grade asset, but its mining infrastructure has not kept pace. He pointed out that institutional and publicly traded miners looking to gain exposure to Zcash previously lacked a compliance-specific infrastructure in the U.S. The mining pool will implement KYC and anti-money laundering compliance reviews for participants, with mining rewards distributed through transparent Zcash addresses rather than concealed ones, using a PPLNS payment model, and with no minimum hash rate threshold.Privacy coins have recently regained market attention, with ZEC rising over 670% in the past 12 months, XMR increasing by 72% during the same period, and DASH up by 51%. After Bitcoin's halving in 2024, mining profitability has tightened, with hash rate prices dropping from over $60 per PH to $30, prompting several large mining companies to explore other PoW networks to diversify their revenue sources. Colyer stated that this move is not primarily in response to declining Bitcoin profits, as Foundry's Bitcoin mining business remains solid, and the company is currently focused on both Bitcoin and Zcash chains.

Fractal Bitcoin network announced that it has successfully activated the FIP-101 node upgrade at block height 1,500,000, completing the first phase of consensus changes and initiating the construction of standardized indexing; this upgrade received support from major mining pools, covering approximately 85% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate.The Fractal block structure will also gradually transition from a joint mining and independent mining ratio of 1:2 to a ternary structure of joint mining, independent mining, and indexing block production at a ratio of 1:1:1, with indexing nodes being incorporated into the core layer of the block production and incentive system.