Samsung raises advanced chipmaking prices by up to 15% amid AI demand

Samsung is increasing prices for selected advanced foundry services as AI chip demand absorbs available production capacity, giving the Korean semiconductor giant greater pricing power while it seeks to revive its loss-making contract manufacturing business.

Samsung Electronics has increased prices for new orders across several contract chipmaking processes, with some advanced manufacturing services becoming as much as 15% more expensive, according to people familiar with the matter.

The price increases reflect growing demand for semiconductor manufacturing capacity driven by artificial intelligence applications. Samsung's foundry business has struggled against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the dominant player in the global contract chipmaking market, but tighter availability of advanced production capacity is giving Samsung an opportunity to improve pricing and utilisation.

Prices for Samsung's 4-nanometre SF4 process were raised in July, with increases of between 10% and 15% for customers in China and the US compared with the previous month. Customers in Taiwan faced increases of around 5% to 10%, according to one source.

The company also raised wafer prices for its 5-nanometre SF5 process by approximately 10% to 15%, while pricing for its older 8-nanometre technology increased by nearly 10%.

According to reports, Samsung did not comment on the reported pricing changes, citing its policy of not discussing operational matters.

Chinese customers are reportedly among those facing the larger increases. Strong demand from China has added pressure to Samsung's available capacity, while US customers and Samsung's internal chip requirements also compete for production resources.

Foundry business seeks profitability

The pricing shift marks a potentially important change for Samsung's foundry operation, which has remained loss-making since 2022, according to industry estimates. The business has faced difficulties improving yields and closing the technology gap with TSMC, even as Samsung's overall semiconductor earnings have benefited from strong demand and pricing for memory chips used in AI systems.

Counterpoint estimates that Samsung accounted for about 7% of global foundry revenue in the first quarter of 2026, compared with more than 70% for TSMC.

However, demand for advanced AI and high-performance computing chips has tightened capacity across the industry. Samsung expects advanced manufacturing processes to contribute more than half of its foundry revenue this year, while AI and high-performance computing applications are projected to account for more than 30%, compared with 15% to 20% in late 2025.

The company is also benefiting from stronger utilisation of its manufacturing facilities. Its SF4 production line at Pyeongtaek in South Korea has reportedly been operating at full capacity since late 2025. The facility manufactures logic chips for customers including Qualcomm and produces base dies used in Samsung's high-bandwidth memory products.

Samsung said in July that improved utilisation, higher manufacturing yields and stronger pricing could help its foundry operation return to profitability in the near term. It also expects foundry revenue to grow by more than double-digit percentage points in the second half of 2026 from a year earlier, supported by demand from major US and Chinese customers and HBM-related production.

Samsung's improving yields have also helped it secure new customers and contracts. The company has manufacturing agreements with Tesla and Apple, while it announced an AI chip production partnership with Broadcom in July. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has also said Samsung will manufacture Nvidia's new AI inference processor.

Google is additionally in discussions with Samsung over production using the SF4 process, according to one source, highlighting the growing interest in Samsung's advanced foundry capacity.