r/stocks
Samsung's Han Jin-man Vows to Catch TSMC "Even If It Takes 10 or 20 Years" After Chairman's Taunt
Samsung's foundry chief vows to catch TSMC in 10-20 years, betting on Tesla's AI chip contract and expanding ties with AMD and Qualcomm.
- TSMC commands a dominant 73% foundry market share driven by surging AI chip demand and advanced CoWoS packaging.
- Samsung is securing major contracts like Tesla's $14.9B AI chip deal and expanding ties with AMD and Qualcomm.
- Samsung's foundry market share dropped to 7% from 9%, showing its struggle to catch up with TSMC.
- Experts advise Samsung to spin off its foundry unit and reshape its corporate culture to compete effectively.
Samsung Electronics' foundry chief Han Jin-man fired back at TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei after Wei dismissed competitors' ambitions to catch the Taiwanese chip giant as "a dream." Speaking at an AI ecosystem event in Seoul, Han declared Samsung would realize its own dream "whether it takes 10 or 20 years." The exchange highlights the intensifying rivalry in the global foundry market, where TSMC commands a dominant 73% share in Q1 2026, up from 69% a year earlier, while Samsung slipped to 7% from 9%. TSMC's lead has been fueled by surging AI chip demand and its advanced CoWoS packaging technology. Samsung is betting on a major Tesla AI chip contract worth 22.76 trillion won (approximately $14.9 billion), growing customer relationships with AMD and Qualcomm, and synergies between its memory and foundry businesses through HBM4. A former TSMC executive, Yang Guang-lei, advised that Samsung must spin off its foundry unit and fundamentally reshape its corporate culture to compete effectively. Industry watchers are eyeing a potential return to profitability for Samsung's foundry business in Q4.
https://finance.biggo.com/news/lGQPrJ4BpwxG186NZAzk
I forget samsung is technically the 2nd largest foundry by marketshare. Its such a distant 2nd it doesnt matter. TSM is just a great business
Its not too far tgat it doesnt matter, its just far enough that it can get neutral balance.
Cause if yiur chip is just a SLIVER behind you're only able to sell your chips at a significantly lower price.
One of tge reasons im laughing at china and now europe's efforts to get thier own fabs is that it takes samsung millions of dollars and being basically neutral in balance just to maintain a 1 year or so gap in yech.
Why laugh at china? They are sanctioned from bleeding edge so financially and technologically they have to invest no matter what. Just like with the ISS, since they couldn't have a joint space program they had to invest in that too.
Financially since their firms that serve their population can't get bleeding edge the market is relatively captive save the blockade running stuff that leaks through.
Well china wont have access to bleeding edge nodes so fabs arent a terrible idea. But they want an entire siloed ecosystem. Leadership in every major country has been sleeping on tech,especially Europe. Now semis are growing at a nosebleed pace everyone wants a piece. Too bad this is the most complicated tech on the planet. Have to give props to TSM
It makes total sense why TSMC's current CEO dislikes Samsung so much—there’s a lot of history there. Samsung once angered TSMC's former CEO by poaching a top tech executive, which triggered a massive intellectual property lawsuit. On top of that, Samsung's former chairman openly dismissed TSMC when it was just a startup, and their rivalry has been bitter ever since. Since the current CEO is a protégé of the former CEO, TSMC has always kept its distance from Samsung and is now teaming up with SK Hynix to push back against them.
I don’t see their culture changing when the family practically runs their entire country. This just feels like a statement made by Samsung out of a hurt pride
no position in tsm or samsung rn
imo the hard part isnt just capex. foundry customers are basically betting whole product cycles on ur yield, packaging capacity, and whether u can keep roadmap promises for years. once nvidia/apple/amd build around tsmc, the switching cost is brutal.
samsung can def be a serious #2, esp if memory plus hbm4 actually gives them tighter packaging options. but catching tsmc is less like catching up on one node and more like rebuilding trust after every yield miss. 10 to 20 yrs sounds about right tbh, if it happens at all
Good for them.
What's the etf with the most Samsung exposure
DRAM probably, or EWY
Samsung love to use industry power to fuck with all the silicone companies smaller than them back in the day. Funny how karma works.
I think Samsung would have to make major changes to their corporate culture if they wanted to compete
That’s literally the second to last statement of the post that a former TSMC exec said.
Not a bad idea. Too bad Korea still has piss poor shareholder rights even after recent reforms.
TSMC needs competition to keep it honest, but it is better for the world if any other fucking company not named Sumsung becomes #2 - fuck them.