Samsung Reportedly Mulls Foundry Spinoff

EE Times
12/14/2016 06:01 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO—South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is considering spinning out its foundry after losing Apple Inc.’s processor business to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to a report by BusinessKorea, a Korean business news magazine.

Also under consideration is a reorganization that would combine the company’s SoC and LSI segments under one fabless semiconductor division.

Samsung is the fourth largest foundry supplier in the world, with a marketshare of roughly 5%, trailing only dedicated foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Globalfoundries Inc. and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC). Samsung’s foundry business is the largest of any integrated device manufacturer.

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