Samsung Electronics, which won large foundry (contract chipmaking) corporations in the United States, Japan and elsewhere last year, is building its customer base in Europe this year. Some corporations that have been supplied chips by Samsung Electronics' foundry division since last year are expected to expand production starting this year after completing process stability and quality tests.
According to the industry on the 10th, Ubitium, a German fabless (chip design) company that has been supplied 8-nanometer chip prototypes from Samsung Electronics, is said to have completed performance and quality tests and will sign a contract to increase volumes this year. To meet demand, Samsung Electronics is also reviewing ways to supply more volume than before, such as increasing the number of MPW (multi-project wafer) runs, which are typically carried out three times a year, or supplying chips from a separate production line.
MPW is a method of producing prototypes by integrating multiple chip designs on a single wafer. Client corporations use it when making prototypes. Last year, 4-nanometer MPWs were run four times, 5-nanometer three times, and 8-nanometer three times. Recently, however, demand has risen for 8-nanometer chips, which offer superior price-to-performance and proven quality stability, leading to analysis that three runs a year cannot keep supply up with demand.
In fact, in addition to Ubitium, Nintendo and Intel are being supplied chips from Samsung Electronics' 8-nanometer process. In Nintendo's case, the Switch 2, whose cumulative sales have surpassed 155 million units to date, uses Samsung foundry 8-nanometer chips, and Intel is also expected to be supplied its "platform controller hub (PCH)" chips from Samsung foundry lines starting this year.
Nvidia recently asked Samsung Electronics to produce more low-cost 8-nanometer GPUs in addition to the Switch 2 graphics processing unit (GPU), according to reports. As PC memory prices have surged, demand for PC gaming devices is being absorbed by consoles, and sales of legacy consoles, including the Switch 2, are projected to rise this year as well.
Behind Samsung Electronics' successive wins of European fabless corporations as customers was close collaboration with increasingly solid design service partners (DSPs). In particular, ADTechnology, one of the largest partners, is said to have been deeply involved in the contract chipmaking process for Ubitium's chips and helped clinch the deal.
Industry voices say that for Samsung Electronics' foundry division to land more big catches not only from large customers but also from small and midsize customers, it needs close cooperation with design house partners. TSMC, the world's largest foundry, likewise has more than 230 design houses led by Global Unichip (GUC), which has expanded its order base and strengthened the domestic foundry ecosystem.