The global chip shortage that started in the automotive sector this year has expanded to many areas such as consumer electronics and is still continuing. For the global chip shortage that began in many fields at the beginning of this year, to a large extent, the production capacity of chip foundries was unable to meet the increasing demand, resulting in a short supply of chips, which in turn affected the final product production.
The production capacity of chip foundries is tight, and the demand for chip foundries is strong, which has also prompted chip foundries to expand production capacity to meet demand. UMC announced in April that it would cooperate with customers to increase production capacity and plan to build a new wafer factory in Singapore. Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has also started to build a 12-inch wafer fab in March.
Foreign media reports show that the market share in the chip foundry field is second only to TSMC’sSamsungElectronics is also preparing to substantially increase chip foundry production capacity.
According to reports from foreign media, Samsung Electronics plans to triple its foundry production capacity by 2026, that is, triple it.
In the report, foreign media also mentioned that Samsung Electronics will increase the production capacity of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine production line at the Pyeongtaek S5 plant, and also plans to build a new plant in the United States to meet the growing demand for chip foundry from customers.
It is worth noting that there have been many news that Samsung Electronics has increased its chip foundry business before. At the end of 2019, foreign media reported that Samsung Electronics planned to invest US$116 billion in the next ten years to develop its chip manufacturing business. In May of this year, it was reported that Samsung Electronics planned to invest 171 trillion won, or approximately US$145.5 billion, in non-memory chip fields by 2030. The non-memory chip field includes chip foundry.