Samsung expanding foundry ecosystem
Samsung Electronics is seeking to expand its foundry business — contract-based chip producing — ecosystem by strengthening its customer base as part of a plan to catch up with world leader TSMC of Taiwan.
The tech giant said Friday that it had hosted the Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) Forum in San Jose, California, to showcase its state-of-the-art technology and meet with customers.
The company introduced the SAFE program in early 2018 to help customers that place orders with the company more easily develop their own semiconductors.
“The forum is designed to provide an opportunity for SAFE partner companies to directly meet with customers to discuss the comprehensive design technology infrastructure, including electronic design automation, intellectual property, cloud, design service and packaging, which is critical to efficiently developing and manufacturing semiconductors,” Samsung said.
It added that the inaugural event attracted more than 400 industry experts.
The SAFE forum is in line with Samsung’s ambitious strategy to become a leader in the non-memory sector by 2030.
The world’s largest memory chip maker is trying to expand its business portfolio, which has been heavily dependent on the memory business.
Currently, Samsung has been behind TSMC, which has a 50 percent market share in the foundry business. According to data by industry tracker Trend, TSMC is expected to occupy 50.5 percent market share in the third quarter of 2019 with No. 2 Samsung taking 18.5 percent.
“The SAFE program has grown in quality over the past two years. It has expanded its number of competitive partnerships, and its support for flexible product design for customers as well as bolstering this relationship,” Park Jae-hong, executive vice president of foundry design platform development at Samsung.
In addition to the SAFE Forum, Samsung also has held its annual foundry forum five times in the U.S., China, Korea, Japan and Germany this year showcasing its cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technologies, which was well-received by participating industry officials.
Samsung said its latest foundry forum held in Munich in early October attracted 40 percent more European fabless customers compared to last year’s event.
To meet growing demand in the autonomous and electric vehicle market there, Samsung showcased its foundry platform for automotive semiconductors. The company is currently producing several chips for vehicle systems such as driving assistants and infotainment.