According to South Korean media The Investor, in order to accelerate the development of the global non-storage chip industry, technology giant Samsung Electronics is increasing its business in the field of foundry by expanding its partnership with chip manufacturers.
According to reports, Samsung is negotiating with German semiconductor company Infineon Technologies on the foundry of automotive power semiconductor wafers. The news came from a report released earlier this month. In addition, according to the report, Samsung has initially entered into a cooperation agreement with AMD, a US graphics chip company.
Infineon Technologies ranks among the best in the world of power semiconductors. If an agreement is reached, Samsung may use its foundry in Gyeonggi Province to produce 8-inch wafer chips for Infineon. According to reports, Samsung recently increased its production capacity from 200,000 wafers per month to 250,000 wafers to quickly respond to the growing demand for automotive chips, and even plans to further increase to 300,000 units based on market conditions.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the production of 8-inch wafer chips has been on a downward trend, as 12-inch wafers are more productive than small wafers and have become mainstream. But in recent years, with the advent of automotive electronics and the Internet of Things, the market needs smaller and more diverse semiconductors, which has once again made the 8-inch wafer chip the focus.
“Because different market segments, such as cars, IoT and mobile, require more types of chips, this will make the production of chips based on 8-inch wafers regaining attractiveness,” said a semiconductor industry official.
According to recent media reports, Samsung's foundry business is on the rise, and other global technology companies that have recently announced cooperation with Samsung include IBM, Nvidia and Qualcomm.
