On December 10th, Samsung purchased 104,089 square meters of land near its foundry plant in Austin, Texas, USA, which is about 156 acres of land, which may be preparing for the expansion of foundry business.

Recently, Samsung requested the Austin City Council to approve the development of these lands. The company’s executive confirmed: “We have purchased additional land around the factory and applied for a change of use, but no decision has been made on how we will use the land.”

At present, Samsung’s Austin factory is producing chips in 14nm, 28nm and 32nm specifications for customers, but it is not equipped with extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment for the production of 7nm or below products.

Data from market research company TrendForce shows that in the fourth quarter of 2020, Samsung’s foundry business revenue is expected to reach US$3.715 billion, an increase of 25% over the same period in 2019. Samsung’s foundry business revenue in 2021 is expected to be close to US$15 billion, accounting for 20% of the company’s total semiconductor sales.

In contrast, the world’s largest foundry company TSMC’s sales in the fourth quarter are expected to reach US$12.55 billion, an increase of 21% over the same period in 2019, and its market share is expected to increase to 55.6%, while Samsung is expected to only 16.4%.