Samsung and SK Hynix made two moves this week that tell the same story: supply is tight, and the sellers have pricing power.
Samsung Foundry is lifting prices on new 4 nm orders by as much as 15%, with 5 nm and 8 nm following close behind. The line is running full thanks to Qualcomm, Groq AI chips, and Samsung's own 4 nm HBM4 base-die demand. The cash from this node is earmarked to push SF2P yields toward 70% — the real test of whether Samsung can sustain foundry profitability long-term.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix broke ground on a $4 billion+ advanced packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. Cleanroom target is October 2028. Volume HBM production starts second half 2029. The setup is straightforward: Korean wafers ship to the U.S. for package and test, then move to hyperscalers. After HBM4, the base die has to match each customer's compute path, so the plant doubles as an R&D test bed working with roughly 100 local suppliers.
Foundry price hikes and custom HBM capacity in America are two sides of the same shift. Standard wafers are no longer the whole business. Named AI demand is.
The catch is execution: SF2P yield in Korea, and whether Indiana ships on schedule.
Samsung Foundry is lifting prices on new 4 nm orders by as much as 15%, with 5 nm and 8 nm following close behind. The line is running full thanks to Qualcomm, Groq AI chips, and Samsung's own 4 nm HBM4 base-die demand. The cash from this node is earmarked to push SF2P yields toward 70% — the real test of whether Samsung can sustain foundry profitability long-term.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix broke ground on a $4 billion+ advanced packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. Cleanroom target is October 2028. Volume HBM production starts second half 2029. The setup is straightforward: Korean wafers ship to the U.S. for package and test, then move to hyperscalers. After HBM4, the base die has to match each customer's compute path, so the plant doubles as an R&D test bed working with roughly 100 local suppliers.
Foundry price hikes and custom HBM capacity in America are two sides of the same shift. Standard wafers are no longer the whole business. Named AI demand is.
The catch is execution: SF2P yield in Korea, and whether Indiana ships on schedule.