Samsung Electronics is looking to aggressively expand its semi-conductor business over the next five years. The company plans to directly challenge Taiwanese giant TSMC in producing electronic components on a contract basis, and is prepared to invest heavily to do so.
E.S. Jung, executive vice president of the new foundry division at Samsung Electronics, told Reuters that he wants a 25 percent market share within the five years. The company is gunning for a solid number two position in a market dominated by TSMC.
At the moment, Samsung holds 7.9 percent of the market; which puts it in fourth place behind TSMC (50.6 percent), Global Foundries (9.6 percent), and UMC (8.1 percent).
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Samsung is already well on its way to becoming a major player in the component business. The company counts Qualcomm and Nvidia as clients; although it recently lost Apple’s business to TSMC.
Despite this, the division has managed encouraging sales in 2016. Samsung doesn’t reveal the numbers, but analysts put the number in the region of 5.3 trillion won (about RM20.3 million).
Samsung has a slight technological edge over its rivals. Being the first to manufacture chips on the 10nm and 7nm process. While these were mainly for in-house use, it makes the company more capable of producing similar designs for when future clients catch up.
[Source: Reuters]
