Prime Highlights
- Samsung has raised prices for advanced chipmaking services by up to 15% as growing AI demand puts pressure on available production capacity.
- Higher prices and strong factory utilisation could strengthen Samsung’s foundry business, which has been working towards a return to profitability.
Key Facts
- SF4 prices rose 10%–15% in China and the US.
- Samsung held 7% of global foundry revenue in Q1 2026.
Background
Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some advanced contract chipmaking services by as much as 15% as strong demand for AI chips puts pressure on available production capacity, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company increased prices for its 4-nanometre SF4 process by 10% to 15% for customers in China and the US in July. Prices for Taiwanese customers rose by 5% to 10%. Samsung also increased prices for its 5-nanometre SF5 process by up to 15%, while 8-nanometre wafer prices rose by nearly 10%.
The changes give Samsung greater pricing power at a time when leading foundry rival TSMC is dealing with heavy demand for advanced chip production. Samsung’s foundry business accounted for about 7% of global foundry revenue in the first quarter, compared with more than 70% for TSMC, according to Counterpoint.
Samsung’s SF4 production line at its Pyeongtaek plant in South Korea has reportedly operated at full capacity since late last year. The line makes logic chips for customers such as Qualcomm and also produces base dies used in Samsung’s high-bandwidth memory products.
The stronger pricing could help Samsung’s foundry division, which has struggled with losses since 2022, move towards profitability. The company has also secured chip manufacturing deals with Tesla, Apple and Broadcom, while Nvidia has said Samsung will produce its new AI inference processor.
Samsung expects advanced processes to contribute more than half of its foundry revenue this year, supported by growing demand from AI and high-performance computing customers
