Samsung Electronics is restarting new semiconductor businesses - Tech Times

Following a year-long emergency effort to stabilize its core memory business, Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division is resuming investments in next-generation NAND flash, compound semico... Read original →

Samsung’s renewed push into HBM4, 400-layer NAND, and compound semiconductors isn’t ambition—it’s a defensive scramble in the AI chip arms race. Success would force TSMC to accelerate CoWoS output and SK Hynix to rethink HBM stacking economics. Yet the looming strike poses strategic peril: beyond $671M/day losses, any EUV line disruption risks derailing customer qualifications and triggering Western reassessments of Korean supply chain reliability—raising compliance overhead. Micron and STMicroelectronics may seize this window to lock in automotive SiC deals. If labor strife persists past Q3 2026, Samsung could miss the AI-server DRAM inflection point, letting its HBM share—already trailing at ~20%—erode further. The real long-tail risk? Inability to align AI-driven profits with workforce incentives, making technological leads unsustainable.