Samsung Foundry has struck gold as its utilization rate has jumped to an impressive 80% this quarter. This comes after many years of struggling to achieve a good utilization rate, while competitors like TSMC have consistently led the adoption of newer nodes and gained a massive customer base. However, the situation has now changed, and Samsung's foundries are now operating at about 80% of total capacity, consistently producing silicon, with the Pyeongtaek Campus P2 and P3 leading the charge. Previously, these lines were only achieving a 50% booking rate last year and even struggled with insufficient production volume in the second half of 2024. Samsung uses these sites to manufacture 4 nm, 5 nm, and 7 nm nodes, which are now considered "mature," as the leading edge shifts to sub-3 nm production.

Part of the foundry revival is attributed to the strong demand for its 6th-generation HBM, coming in the form of HBM4 with a custom base die manufactured on the 4 nm node. While competitors are making HBM4 base dies on older nodes, Samsung is using a 4 nm custom base die that provides higher design density for any logic that ASIC makers want to implement. This can include some data processing that will aid the main accelerator in AI workloads. This has translated into high demand for Samsung Foundry products from external customers, who are now keeping production at high capacity.