Samsung has raised prices on contract chip manufacturing by up to 15 percent, its clearest sign yet of pricing power in a foundry business that has lost money every year since 2022.
Reuters reported the increases, which hit July orders across several nodes. Chinese and US customers absorbed hikes of 10 to 15 percent on wafers from the 4nm SF4 line at Pyeongtaek, while Taiwanese customers saw rises of 5 to 10 percent. The 5nm SF5 node climbed 10 to 15 percent and the older 8nm line rose close to 10 percent.
The SF4 fab has run at full capacity since late 2025, producing logic for Qualcomm and base dies for Samsung’s own HBM stacks. Chinese buyers, squeezed by US export controls on advanced chipmaking gear, are the most willing to pay more, though Samsung must reserve capacity for US clients and its own products.
Counterpoint puts Samsung at about 7 percent of foundry revenue in the first quarter, against more than 70 percent for TSMC. Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities, argues the hikes follow TSMC’s crowded order book: buyers hunting for open fab slots have shifted business to Samsung and Intel, and he believes the stronger pricing could flip the foundry unit to profit this year.
Samsung expects advanced nodes to supply more than half of foundry revenue this year, with AI and high-performance computing workloads now the fastest-growing slice of that business.
