[Edaily Reporter Gim Ga Yeong ] Reuters reported on the 19th, citing sources, that Samsung Electronics (005930) has raised prices for some of its advanced foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) services by up to 15% for new orders, in response to rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

According to the sources, Samsung Electronics has raised prices for semiconductors produced using the 4-nanometer process since last month. The price increases ranged from 10% to 15% for Chinese and U.S. customers and from 5% to 10% for Taiwanese customers.
The supply price for wafers produced using the 5-nanometer process rose by 10–15%. It is also reported that the price of wafers using the older 8-nanometer technology was raised by nearly 10%.
One source noted that Chinese customers are among those accepting the largest price increases. The source also pointed out that this reflects how U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China have increased Chinese companies’ reliance on overseas foundries.
The source further explained that while demand from Chinese customers remains strong, Samsung is unable to fulfill all orders because it must also secure capacity to support U.S. customers and produce its own chips.
This price hike is believed to be influenced by the fact that the production capacity of Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest foundry, has reached saturation due to the recent rapid growth of the AI industry.
According to market research firm Counterpoint, Samsung Electronics’ share of global foundry revenue in the first quarter was only 7%, while TSMC accounted for over 70%. The report also noted that as TSMC’s advanced process production capacity has been unable to keep pace with the surging demand for AI chips, Samsung Electronics has gained greater pricing leverage.
Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment Securities, stated, “As TSMC raised prices due to production capacity shortages, customers are shifting to competitors like Samsung or Intel, which is prompting Samsung to raise its prices as well.”
The analyst added, “If Samsung Electronics raises prices further at this point, its foundry division could turn a profit as early as next year—sooner than previously expected.”
Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with Samsung Electronics, that the Samsung SF4 production line at the Pyeongtaek plant in South Korea has maintained a 100% utilization rate since late last year. According to the source, the line is producing not only logic chips for customers, including Qualcomm (QCOM.O), but also base dies used in Samsung’s own stacked high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.
Previously, during its second-quarter earnings conference call on the 30th of last month, Samsung Electronics projected that the number of orders for its 2-nanometer process would more than double year-over-year in the second half of this year. The company also stated that it had secured orders from major AI and high-performance computing (HPC) clients and that customer product design had already begun, adding, “A full-scale recovery will take hold alongside a significant improvement in profitability.”