Samsung Foundry Sales Surpass $20 Billion... Annual Average Growth of 15.8%

Samsung Electronics' foundry business has surpassed $20 billion in sales within five years of its launch.

According to market research firm Omdia on the 7th, Samsung Electronics' foundry division recorded sales of $20.8 billion last year. Compared to 2018, when Omdia first tracked Samsung's foundry sales ($11.7 billion), sales have doubled in five years since its launch.

Samsung Foundry's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in sales from 2018 to 2022 was 15.6%.

Amid a global economic downturn causing difficulties in the semiconductor industry, Samsung Electronics posted a loss of 4.58 trillion KRW in the semiconductor sector in the first quarter of this year alone.

While the main cause was the downturn in the memory market, the foundry business also saw a decline in performance due to reduced demand from the global economic slowdown and decreased orders caused by increased inventory at client companies.

However, there are forecasts that performance will slightly improve in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Positive news continues regarding Samsung Electronics' latest 4-nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) foundry process.

According to industry sources, Samsung Foundry is expected to produce Qualcomm's new mobile application processor (AP, the semiconductor that acts as the brain of a smartphone) based on the 4nm process.

Samsung Electronics started offering a 'Multi-Project Wafer' (MPW) service based on the 4nm process from last month. MPW is a service that fabricates multiple chip designs on a single semiconductor wafer.

Some media outlets, citing well-known IT tipsters, reported that the U.S. semiconductor company AMD has decided to entrust Samsung Electronics, instead of TSMC, with the production of its new 4nm process-based central processing unit (CPU) products.

The foundational infrastructure for 2nm design is also progressing smoothly. Samsung Electronics will hold the 'Samsung Foundry Forum' starting in San Jose, California, on June 27-28, followed by events in Korea (July 4), Munich, Germany, Tokyo, Japan, and China, where it will announce the foundry business roadmap and new technologies.

Meanwhile, according to market research firm Gartner, the foundry market is expected to shrink by 6.2% to $122.4 billion this year compared to last year. However, it is projected to grow to $137.5 billion in 2024, surpassing the market size of 2022.

Gartner forecasts the foundry market to reach $162.5 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% from 2023 to 2027.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.