Samsung Foundry to hold Seoul forum next week amid shifting market landscape

Samsung Electronics is set to hold its annual foundry forum on July 1, gathering customers and partners to share the latest technology trends, as the contract chipmaking market enters a new phase amid production constraints at Taiwan's TSMC and a renewed push by Intel.

With AI chip orders overwhelming even TSMC's capacity and foundry customers scrambling to diversify their supply chains, all eyes are on Samsung's next-generation technology roadmap and growth vision as it seeks to retain and attract clients.

Samsung Electronics' foundry division will host the SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) Forum 2026 and the Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2026 on July 1 at the multipurpose hall of its Seocho-gu headquarters in Seoul, according to industry sources.

Samsung Electronics uses the annual SAFE Forum and SFF to share its latest technology developments and growth roadmap with foundry customers and partners while strengthening business ties. Through 2024, the company held the events on a large scale at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, but has scaled back since last year, opting for a more subdued format.

Foundry operations depend heavily on collaboration with a broad ecosystem of partners — including EDA firms that develop semiconductor design automation tools, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers, intellectual property suppliers, and design solution partners.

The rapid expansion of the AI semiconductor industry has made seamless collaboration with these partners a decisive factor in success or failure, pushing the task of building a robust foundry ecosystem to the top of the agenda.

Shin Jong-shin, executive vice president and head of Samsung's Design Platform Development, is expected to open the SAFE Forum by emphasizing ongoing collaboration with ecosystem partners and presenting the company's current technology capabilities.

Shin took the stage at the SAFE Forum 2026 in San Jose on May 28, where he outlined Samsung Electronics' advanced process technology — from design through mass production — and shared achievements aimed at meeting the demanding requirements of the AI and high-performance computing markets.

Following the SAFE Forum, SFF 2026 will bring together C-suite executives from customer and partner companies for a dinner. Foundry division head Han Jin-man, president, and Chief Technology Officer Nam Seok-woo are also expected to attend.

Han said at a recent internal business briefing that a return to profitability next year "does not look easy, but the likelihood of achieving it by 2028 is high." Against that backdrop, attention will focus on whether he outlines plans to expand margins, presents a process technology roadmap for sub-2-nanometer nodes, and announces new orders from major tech clients.

Samsung Electronics' foundry division has been landing a string of high-profile orders — including Nvidia's AI inference chip "Grok," autonomous driving chips, and volume orders from Tesla and Apple — as it fights to return to the black.

Supply bottlenecks at TSMC have also created an opening for Samsung. As lead times for TSMC products have grown longer and foundry process prices have risen, Samsung has emerged as an alternative.

However, Samsung now faces intensifying competition from Intel Foundry for orders from major US customers such as Nvidia, Tesla and Apple, as Intel benefits from sweeping support from a US administration that has championed a domestic-first industrial policy.

Intel has been accelerating its push by recruiting Lee Seok-hee, former president of SK Hynix, as senior vice president of its foundry division.

Intel Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said at a Bank of America-hosted Global Technology Conference on June 3 (local time) that the company now expects to reach breakeven "at least a quarter, and possibly a little more" ahead of its original target of late 2027, raising expectations for an earlier return to profitability.