Samsung Electronics, TSMC are hard to catch up… Will the gap close next year?

[아이뉴스24 서민지 기자] Samsung Electronics, which has declared’Semiconductor Vision 2030′ to rise to No. 1 in system semiconductors, is speeding up its pursuit of the No. 1 company, TSMC. Right now, the gap is not narrowing, but as we have secured large customers this year, there are expectations that the results will be visible next year.

According to the industry on the 24th, Samsung Electronics recently won an additional order for the consignment production of NVIDIA’s graphics processing unit (GPU). After producing Nvidia’s RTX30 series in September, it received a second order.

Initially, there were some observations that Nvidia will move its production from Samsung Electronics to TSMC, which is a result of reversing this. It is known that Samsung Electronics is proceeding with additional production at the 8-nano process at the foundry plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do.

Accordingly, the proportion of Nvidia in the foundry division of Samsung Electronics is expected to increase. Nvidia’s contribution to sales this year is only a single digit, but is expected to exceed 10% next year.

Samsung Electronics is evaluated that the foundry business unit is on a full-fledged growth trajectory with successive large contracts this year. It has received orders for consignment production of semiconductors from global companies such as Qualcomm, IBM, and Nvidia.

The competition between TSMC and Samsung Electronics for securing customers is expected to intensify. Recently, IT companies are showing a movement to produce their own semiconductors. Following Apple, Google and Amazon are developing their own chips.

It is known that Microsoft (MS) is also developing its own semiconductors for surface PCs and servers. Microsoft has been using semiconductors supplied by Intel for a long time, and it has chosen to design the semiconductors and leave the production to a foundry company.

The industry expects most of the volume to go to Samsung Electronics. TSMC is already full of capacity, making it difficult to expand production. In the foundry industry, TSMC and Samsung Electronics are the only companies with ultra-fine process technology of 7nm or less, so Samsung Electronics may be an alternative.

Expectations are also coming out for reflected profits from the US’ Chinese SMIC sanctions. As SMIC is expected to experience disruption in production, it could pass the volume to other foundry companies and lead to an increase in foundry prices.

However, there is still an atmosphere that does not allow TSMC to run away quickly and close the gap. According to the market research firm Trend Force, TSMC is expected to outperform Samsung Electronics (16.4%) by 39.2% points with 55.6% market share in the foundry market in the fourth quarter. The market share gap between the two companies widened further from 32.7 percentage points in the second quarter and 36.5 percentage points in the third quarter.

Kim Kyung-min, researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, “In relation to Samsung Electronics foundry, news about order receipts from US fabless customers is continuing.” It will increase to %.”

An industry insider said, “Samsung Electronics’ success in winning orders is recognized for its technological prowess, and there is a high possibility that other companies will also win orders.”