Samsung Electronics held the 'SAFE Forum 2025' on the 1st at the Samsung Financial Campus in the Seocho District of Seoul. Unlike previous years, Samsung Electronics scaled down the forum this year and made it private. Amid challenging order circumstances and an ongoing increase in losses, this is analyzed as a strategy to focus on 'strengthening fundamentals.'
At the forum that day, key executives from Samsung Electronics, including Shin Jong-shin, Vice President and Head of Foundry Design Platform Development, attended, along with Lee Jang-kyu, CEO of Telechips, and Park Sung-hyun, CEO of Rebellion, among others from Samsung Electronics' foundry partners. At the VIP dinner event later, Han Jin-man, President of the Foundry Business Division in the DS (semiconductor) sector, and Nam Seok-woo, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Foundry Business Division, along with key partners from Samsung Electronics, discussed collaboration strategies.
Samsung Electronics reduced the scale of the event this time. Last year's forum held at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, had over 1,000 customers and partners participating, while this year it was moved to a smaller building affiliated with Samsung. Moreover, the event duration was shortened from all-day to 9:30 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. An individual from a partner company who attended the event stated, 'The scale of the event has been reduced to the point where there aren't even enough seats in the venue,' adding, 'The overall size, including seating and speaker stage, feels about a quarter of last year's.'
The reduction in the scale of this event by the Foundry Division of Samsung Electronics reflects the management's intent to focus on 'strengthening fundamentals.' The aim is to concentrate on enhancing technical competitiveness in the Foundry Division and prioritize customer acquisition. According to market research firm TrendForce, Samsung Electronics' foundry market share in the first quarter of this year was 7.7%, a decline of 0.4 percentage points (P) compared to the fourth quarter of last year. The gap with TSMC (67.6%) has widened, while it has narrowed with China's SMIC (6%).
At the forum that day, Vice President Shin shared the current status and strategic direction of the company's foundry business. Lee Jang-kyu, CEO of Telechips, and Park Sung-hyun, CEO of Rebellion, respectively delivered keynote speeches. Twenty-one companies, including Cadence, Synopsys, Advantest, Alphawave Semi, ADTechnology, and SemiFive, set up booths in the venue's 'Partner Pavilion' to facilitate networking.
Samsung Electronics reportedly shared plans with partners to stabilize the yield of next-generation processes and enhance existing processes. This marks a significant shift from its past strategy of swiftly developing advanced processes and making substantial equipment investments to proactively secure production capacity and narrow the gap with competitors. A semiconductor industry official noted, 'In past forums, Samsung typically announced when it would start mass production of next-generation processes,' adding, 'However, this time, the focus seems to be on how to enhance the competitiveness of existing processes.'
Samsung Electronics aims to accelerate the development and mass production of advanced processes in the 1nm (nanometer) range, instead focusing on improving the yield of the 2nm process and securing clients for stabilized 4nm and 5nm processes. With quarterly deficits accumulating in the trillion won range, the strategy is to improve profitability based on stable processes while enhancing the maturity of advanced processes that are about to enter mass production.
Until now, Samsung Electronics has pursued a strategy of developing advanced processes like gate-all-around (GAA) ahead of competitors like TSMC and significantly expanding its facilities. This approach, which involved developing products a generation ahead in the memory business and quickly moving to mass production to widen the gap with competitors, has been borrowed by the foundry division. However, facing challenges in stabilizing yields and experiencing significant customer departures, along with accumulating losses, adjustments to its business strategy have become inevitable.