Samsung Spinoff Likely to Grab Foundry Share

Alan Patterson, EETimes
5/16/2017 01:29 PM EDT

TAIPEI — Samsung Electronics’ plan to spin off foundry operations from the system LSI division is expected to increase Samsung’s share of global contract chipmaking at the expense of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and smaller rivals.

Samsung's chip operations, consisting of memory and system LSI, will be split into three, making the foundry business an independent unit, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

The separation of Samsung’s contract chipmaking from its branded semiconductor business would remove a conflict of interest with potential customers such as Nvidia and MediaTek, and create a new threat to dedicated foundries such as TSMC, according to analysts such as Andrew Lu.

“A share gain by Samsung Foundry will be inevitable,” Lu said in a report written for intelligence provider Smartkarma.

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