Samsung Courts AI Customers With HBM4 in Challenge to TSMC
High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is a critical part of the AI accelerator supply chain. Samsung, which spans memory, foundry services and advanced packaging, hopes to leverage HBM4 supply to secure logic-chip orders. TrendForce data showed TSMC held 69.9% of the foundry market in 2025, with revenue of $122.5 billion, while Samsung had just 7.2% and $12.6 billion. The yield gap remains an obstacle to winning orders.
Samsung announced mass production of HBM4 on February 12 and signed an MOU with AMD on March 19 to become a primary HBM4 supplier for the Instinct MI455X. The companies will also assess whether Samsung could manufacture next-generation chips, while reports said Samsung plans to supply OpenAI later in 2026. Samsung has budgeted $73.5 billion for facilities and R&D in 2026, up 21.7% from a year earlier. Its Taylor, Texas, plant is expected to begin producing chips in the second half of 2027 under Tesla's $16.5 billion AI chip order.
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The history behind this eventSamsung’s 4-Nanometer Yield Tops 80% in AI Chip Foundry Push
Samsung Electronics is working to narrow the gap with TSMC in semiconductor foundry manufacturing. The 4-nanometer node is an important mature process for high-performance computing chips such as AI accelerators, and yields directly affect costs, delivery schedules and customers’ willingness to adopt it. Crossing the 80% threshold gives Samsung a foundation to take on large orders and improve capacity utilization.
Recent developments show that Samsung’s 4-nanometer process yield has exceeded 80%, helping it secure orders from customers including U.S. AI chip company Groq. Samsung is also preparing for HBM4 mass production, aiming to combine its foundry and high-bandwidth memory strengths and return its non-memory business to profitability as early as the second half of 2026. The reports did not disclose the value of the orders.
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