Samsung broadens IP portfolio to narrow gap with TSMC

Samsung Electronics executives hold 3-nanometer wafers at its factory in Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi in July 2022. [YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics will broaden the range of intellectual property assets that it shares with its existing IP partners in a bid to close the gap with Taiwan's TSMC.

The Korean chipmaker said Wednesday that it will expand its partnership with Synopsys, Cadence and Alphawave Semi by bolstering the IP portfolio to cover more advanced chips.

Samsung said these IPs will allow Samsung to manufacture chips measuring from 8 nanometers to 3 nanometers that are deployed in fields spanning from artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and automobiles.

Further details on the partnership will be announced at the Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem forum that will be held in San Jose, California on June 28.

Under these partnerships, Samsung Electronics will furnish the IP companies with a set of essential foundry manufacturing data. The IP companies will then offer IPs that are optimized for Samsung’s chip manufacturing process.

"Samsung is actively pursuing the expansion of our cutting-edge IP portfolio, prioritizing the success of our customers above all,” said Shin Jong-shin, corporate executive vice president of Foundry IP Development at Samsung Electronics.

“We are pleased to announce a significant expansion of the Samsung advanced foundry ecosystem program to further grow our IP portfolio and effectively meet the needs of our customers in product innovation and production.”

Securing optimized IP is considered a competitive edge in attracting clients – chipmakers without factories known as fabless – in the foundry business.

Fabless chipmakers usually license multiple third-party IPs to design their own set of chips which takes a considerable amount of time and money. If a foundry chipmaker has already optimized its manufacturing process with IPs obtained from its IP partners, it acts as an advantage to fabless designers when commissioning their design for production.

Samsung's latest partnership is seen as a move to narrow the gap with TSMC in the foundry business.

TSMC accounted for 60.1 percent of the foundry market in the first half of this year, according to market tracker TrendForce. Samsung's share was 12.4 percent, dropping from the previous quarter's 15.8 percent share.

IP is one of TSMC's biggest strengths in the foundry business.

TSMC in 2008 had already established its Open Innovation Platform that allows chipmakers at various steps of the manufacturing process to collaborate from the early stages of development to manufacture chips faster and more accurately.

The alliance currently encompasses 37 IP companies and 21 chip design houses among others.

Kyung Kye-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions business, said in a recent lecture to university students that "Samsung's foundry technology falls behind that of TSMC."

"But I am looking ahead five years. We are going to give it our best shot and become the best in the world."

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]