A Samsung flag flies exterior the corporate workplace in Seoul, South Korea on February 05, 2024.
Chung Sung-jun | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
Samsung Electronics has entered right into a $16.5 billion contract for supplying semiconductors to a significant firm, a regulatory submitting by the South Korean firm confirmed Monday.
The reminiscence chipmaker, which didn’t identify the counterparty, talked about in its submitting that the efficient begin date of the contract was July 26, 2024 — receipt of orders — and its finish date was Dec. 31, 2033.
Samsung declined to touch upon particulars concerning the counterparty.
The corporate mentioned that particulars of the deal, together with the identify of the counterparty, won’t be disclosed till the tip of 2033, citing a request from the second social gathering “to guard commerce secrets and techniques,” in keeping with a Google translation of the submitting in Korean.
“For the reason that important contents of the contract haven’t been disclosed because of the want to keep up enterprise confidentiality, traders are suggested to speculate rigorously contemplating the potential for modifications or termination of the contract,” the corporate mentioned. Its shares had been up almost 3% in early buying and selling.
Native South Korean media shops have mentioned that American chip agency Qualcomm might place an order for chips manufactured utilizing Samsung’s 2 nanometer expertise.
Whereas Qualcomm is a chance, given its potential 2 nanometer challenge with Samsung, Tesla appears the extra possible buyer, Ray Wang, analysis director of semiconductors, provide chain and rising expertise at The Futurum Group, advised CNBC.
Samsung’s foundry service manufactures chips primarily based on designs supplied by different corporations. It’s the second largest supplier of foundry providers globally, behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Firm.
The corporate mentioned in April that it was aiming for its foundry enterprise to begin mass manufacturing of its next-generation 2 nanometer and safe main orders for the superior product. In semiconductor expertise, smaller nanometer sizes signify extra compact transistor designs, which result in larger processing energy and effectivity.
Samsung, which is about to ship earnings on Thursday, expects its second-quarter revenue to greater than halve. An analyst beforehand advised CNBC that the disappointing forecast was as a result of weak orders for its foundry enterprise and because the firm has struggled to seize AI demand for its reminiscence enterprise.
The corporate has fallen behind rivals SK Hynix and Micron in high-bandwidth reminiscence chips — a sophisticated sort of reminiscence utilized in AI chipsets.
SK Hynix, the chief in HBM, has turn into the principle provider of those chips to American AI behemoth Nvidia. Whereas Samsung has reportedly been working to get the most recent model of its HBM chips licensed by Nvidia, a report from a native outlet suggests these plans have been pushed again to at the very least September.
