Samsung Electronics will triple its foundry production capacity by 2026 to meet growing demand for semiconductors.
As the chip shortage continues to impact the supply chain, global demand for capacity continues to rise for semiconductors, forecast to rise 5% over the next decade.
As part of the expansion, Samsung will build at least one new fab and will also expand capacities at existing facilities, according to a report from Nikkei. This may be in addition to a planned fab in Texas in the U.S. The move will help Samsung Foundry to better compete against the existing leader in foundry business Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) as well as newcomers such as Intel, which started foundry services earlier this year.
Samsung is the world’s largest chipmaker by capacity with an installed capacity around 3.1 million 200 mm equivalent wafer starts per month, according to IC Insights. However, much of that capacity is dedicated to dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND memory. Samsung is currently the world’s second largest maker of chips by revenue and the fourth foundry by installed capacity.
Intel started its foundry business earlier this year and said it would invest some $20 billion in two new fabs at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. The company just broke ground on the fab in September and already signed up Amazon and Qualcomm as its first customers for the foundry business.
TSMC has plans of its own and will invest a reported $100 billion over the next three years to add to capacity. The company announced it will build a new fab in Arizona and Japan as well as a new 2 nm fab in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and a second facility in Koahsiung, Taiwan.
