Samsung foundry chief sees 2028 profit path as bonus costs mount - digitimes

Samsung Electronics' foundry division chief revealed on June 12 that achieving profitability in the contract chipmaking business appears increasingly difficult for next year, with 2028 emerging as a m... Read original →

Samsung Foundry’s revised 2028 profitability target reveals rapidly diminishing returns from advanced node R&D. Below 3nm, not only are yield ramps painfully slow, but the entire upstream stack—from EDA tools to photoresists and ultra-pure materials—requires costly requalification, extending equipment validation cycles and degrading IP reuse efficiency. With U.S., EU, and Japan aggressively subsidizing domestic fabs, Samsung faces surging compliance costs and heightened export control scrutiny, eroding supply chain resilience. TSMC will likely exploit this window to cement its 2nm lead and potentially undercut Samsung on pricing, while Intel—if it stabilizes 18A output—could rally a U.S.-aligned foundry bloc. Over the next 12–24 months, the industry enters a ‘high CapEx, low ROI’ tail phase where non-top-tier foundries face existential pressure, and capital discipline overtakes node leadership as the true competitive differentiator.