Samsung quietly raised its foundry prices in July
Samsung quietly raised its foundry prices in July. Chinese and American customers are paying 10–15% more on 4nm, 5nm and 8nm orders; Taiwanese customers 5–10%.
The chips did not get better. TSMC filled up.
Samsung's foundry business has lost money every year since 2022. Four years of being the second-best in the world, and second-best was worth nothing. It has not caught up this year either, demand simply overflowed, and the overflow had to go somewhere.
What is not known, said plainly: this is trade reporting rather than a Samsung announcement, and whether any of it reaches the price of your next phone has not been established. There is an entire supply chain and several months between a foundry quote and a shelf.
What stays with me is the second-place part. We teach children that being best is how you win. Samsung spent four years being second and it counted for nothing, until the best one ran out of capacity.
Skill still matters. Without it you are not in the queue at all. But *when your turn comes* is not yours to decide. Exams measure the first half of that. Nothing measures the second.
