Samsung Electronics Co has begun building a cutting-edge chip production line intended to help it take on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the business of making chips for external clients.
South Korea’s largest company said it has started construction on a 5-nanometer (nm) fabrication facility in Pyeongtaek dedicated to its made-to-order foundry business, an arena TSMC dominates.
Based on the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) process, Samsung expects the fab’s output to go toward applications from 5G networking to high-performance computing from the second half of next year, it said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Samsung, the world’s largest maker of computer memory, smartphones and displays last year, outlined its aim of spending US$116 billion to compete with TSMC and Intel Corp in contract chipmaking, supplying customers such as Qualcomm Inc or Nvidia Corp.
Its announcement coincided with the announcement of restrictions on the sale of semiconductors made with US equipment to China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), a constraint that threatens more than one-10th of TSMC’s business.
“This will enable us to break new ground while driving robust growth for Samsung’s foundry business,” ES Jung, head of the contract chipmaking division, said in a statement.
Samsung first unveiled its expansion blueprint in April last year, outlining at the time its goal of hiring thousands and ramping up investment in logic chips in the years leading up to 2030.
That initiative arose as sales of smartphones and consumer electronics plateaued and competition from Chinese rivals depressed margins.
EUV is the latest and most advanced chipmaking method, requiring machines costing tens of millions of US dollars, and delivering better precision and performance in the chips it produces.
TSMC and Samsung, through its spending plan, are the leaders in developing that process and expanding into 5nm and smaller manufacturing nodes.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, Samsung had begun collaborating with major clients on designing and manufacturing custom chips and that work was already starting to add to its revenue, a Samsung executive has said.
Its newest fab in Pyeongtaek joins another 5-nanometer facility in Hwaseong that is to begin production in the second half of this year.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS