Samsung Foundry comeback takes shape—AI chips, HBM4 lift 4nm demand - digitimes

Samsung Electronics' foundry business is demonstrating signs of recovery following an extended period of decline, as demand from AI chip projects and HBM4-related applications begins to boost utilizat... Read original →

Samsung Foundry’s rebound stems from the tight co-dependency between AI chips, 4nm logic, and HBM4—not market sentiment. Technically, HBM4’s 12+ die stacking demands sub-4nm logic nodes to balance bandwidth and power, directly boosting Samsung’s advanced fab utilization. On compliance, U.S. export controls on advanced packaging tools raise overseas capex risks, yet Samsung’s domestic integration of HBM and logic enhances supply chain resilience. Countering TSMC’s CoWoS dominance, Samsung leverages its HBM4+4nm combo as a wedge, forcing rivals to accelerate 2.5D/3D integration. Over the next 18 months, if NVIDIA or Qualcomm shifts even a fraction of AI training chip orders to Samsung, it could crack the foundry duopoly—reshaping pricing power and catalyzing a new 'memory-logic co-design' paradigm.