Samsung will now charge more to make 5nm or better chips for its clients

Samsung makes advanced semiconductor chips not only for itself but also for other companies. Its contract chipmaking business faced a lot of issues over the past four to five years, but it has picked up so much momentum in the past year that the company, which was once ready to offer discounts to its clients, has now decided to charge more starting next month.

According to a report from Reuters, Samsung has raised prices for its advanced contract chipmaking services by up to 15% starting September 2026. For 4nm (SF4) and 5nm (SF5) class process nodes, the company is charging 10% to 15% more for Chinese clients and 5% to 10% more for Taiwanese customers. For older nodes like 8nm, the company has reportedly raised prices by up to 10%.

This is primarily due to higher demand for AI chips across the globe. Since the production capacity of Samsung Foundry's primary rival, TSMC, is fully booked, clients are turning to Samsung Foundry. The company has now gained significantly more business and is confident enough that clients won't turn down its price hikes.

Since the US has set export restrictions on advanced chipmaking equipment, materials, and technology for Chinese brands, Chinese firms have no option but to turn to overseas chip foundries like Samsung Foundry and TSMC.

Samsung Foundry's 4nm production line in Pyeongtaek has been operating at full capacity since late last year. It makes logic chips for clients like Qualcomm and base dies for Samsung's own high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that it started selling earlier this year. The company has recently secured chip orders from tech giants, including Apple, Broadcom, Google, Nvidia, and Tesla.

The company has been facing losses since 2022, but due to recent improvements in yields, orders, and production utilization, it could return to annual profitability in 2027. The company already posted its first quarterly profit since the past few years in Q2 2026.