It’s turning into easier to image Samsung Electronics as a one-stop store outfitted to deal with the upcoming semiconductor increase in synthetic intelligence. According to the South Korean big’s earnings outlook, which was made public on Tuesday, losses at its reminiscence chip division are lowering.
The enchancment ought to shift the main target to how the $390 billion conglomerate may quickly acquire an edge over AI-chip chief TSMC.
An business glut of reminiscence chips is reversing. Samsung’s working revenue within the three months to the top of December most likely fell 35% year-on-year to 2.8 trillion gained ($2.1 billion), an enchancment from the 78% annual plunge within the earlier quarter.
That’s largely due to DRAM data-storage chips which might be Samsung’s core revenue driver. Supply cuts and bettering demand for these are forecast to push common promoting costs up by as a lot as 50% this yr, Citi analysts estimate.
That places Samsung on stable footing to make vital advances in AI, the place Taiwan’s TSMC leads in manufacturing cutting-edge logic chips – used to course of information – for purchasers just like the $1.3 trillion Nvidia. The South Korean conglomerate led by scion Jay Y. Lee has lengthy tried to diversify into manufacturing microprocessors however has largely didn’t dent TSMC’s dominance.
That may change. AI purposes require high-performance semiconductors that may deal with huge quantities of information effectively. The drawback is that squeezing extra transistors onto a single piece of silicon is getting costlier and tougher. Hence, packaging – a historically low-tech course of that bundles chips collectively right into a container – is turning into more and more vital for producers making superior semiconductors.
To this finish, TSMC has pioneered expertise that packages logic and reminiscence chips shut collectively, although the corporate primarily makes solely the previous kind. Samsung is bulking up each its logic-chip manufacturing and packaging capabilities, too.
Last yr, it unveiled new expertise, dubbed Samsung Advanced Interconnection Technology, or SAINT. Its 3D packaging stacks chips vertically on prime of one another, whereas TSMC’s 2.5D packaging places them subsequent to one another. Considerations like how far aside the chips are and what supplies are used to attach them are important.
Lee is betting that his firm can produce each kinds of chips at scale for purchasers, in addition to package deal all of them collectively in a greater, and maybe cheaper, approach. As oversupply worries fade, Samsung shall be extra capable of pursue a degree of integration that may very well be a recreation changer.
The firm on Jan. 9 introduced gross sales within the three months to the top of December had been most likely 67 trillion gained ($51.1 billion). Operating revenue most likely fell 35% from a yr earlier to 2.8 trillion gained, Samsung added, decrease than the three.7 trillion gained forecast from LSEG SmartEstimate.
Shares of Samsung had been largely flat at 75,800 gained throughout midmorning time in Seoul on Jan. 9. The firm is because of launch detailed earnings on Jan. 31.
Source: www.dailysabah.com