Samsung Foundry could be spun off into a different company

Samsung Foundry isn't doing too well, as evidenced by a recent report which stated that it planned on powering down parts of its 7 nm, 5 nm and 4 nm nodes due to poor demand. This resulted in a loss of 1 trillion KRW (~$730,000,000). While the situation might improve with newer nodes (3 nm and beyond), some at Samsung think it would be better to spin-off the foundry business entirely.

South Korean news outlet Topdaily reports (H/T @Jukanlosreve on X) Samsung has apparently set up a 'task force' to separate Samsung Foundry from Samsung Electronics. The endeavour will be resource-intensive and take between 3 to 5 years, the report adds. The head of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-Yong, apparently opposes to the idea. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is some friction within Samsung about this topic, and it could be a while before anything concrete emerges.

Divesting Samsung Foundry from Samsung Electronics should, on paper, allow the former to operate with more autonomy. However, it still needs to address core issues with its processes. While TSMC's N3 family of nodes has roped in Qualcomm, Apple, MediaTek and even Intel, Samsung's equivalent node has not found any buyers despite it being based on the superior GAAFET technology.