독·일·중 Poundry Forum, Next Month 24th to be Held
Changed to Online Instead of Offline
"To Effectively Introduce Beyond Time and Space Constraints"
Industry Says "Due to Recent Difficult Circumstances"
Pyeongtaek Poundry Line is 'Cold Shutdown'
Samsung Electronics, which had aimed to tighten its grip on the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) competition through aggressive investment and the swift introduction of leading-edge processes, has recently been taking a series of steps to catch its breath.
In July, the 'Samsung Foundry Forum 2024' was held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The Foundry Forum is an event where Samsung Electronics shares the current status and future vision of its foundry manufacturing technology with fabless customers and ecosystem members. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
According to industry sources on the 30th, Samsung Electronics recently changed its plan to hold the foundry forum events offline in Munich, Germany, and Tokyo, Japan, to an online format. The English version of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor official website states that the forums, originally scheduled to be held in Munich, Tokyo, and Beijing, China, will be conducted simultaneously online on the 24th of next month. Regarding the change in the event format, the website explained, "We switched to an online format to effectively showcase our foundry's technological achievements beyond the constraints of time and space."
However, the industry views this move as closely related to Samsung Electronics reducing the operation of some equipment in the foundry production lines at its Pyeongtaek campus and withdrawing personnel who had been dispatched to its factory in Taylor, Texas, USA. The prevailing observation is that Samsung has revised its foundry strategy to generally slow down the pace, thereby minimizing the scale of the forum. Until now, the forums have been held extensively offline in various countries. Given the nature of the foundry business, which requires attracting many customers to outsource semiconductor production, the Samsung Electronics foundry division considered these events very important. The forums held online in the second half of this year are expected to have limitations in actively attracting customers.
There is strong analysis that Samsung Electronics decided to hold the event online despite knowing this due to its foundry situation, which is facing a crisis from difficulties in securing orders and low yield rates. In this regard, some equipment in the P2 and P3 factory lines responsible for foundry production in Pyeongtaek is reported to have undergone a ‘cold shutdown.’ The method of stopping semiconductor equipment operation is broadly divided into ‘warm shutdown,’ where power remains on but production stops, and ‘cold shutdown,’ where power is cut and the entire factory operation halts. Samsung Electronics is said to have made the bold decision to completely stop operations. When a cold shutdown occurs, semiconductor equipment without power supply cannot maintain vacuum and cleanliness, leading to deterioration. Restarting production after turning the power back on requires significant time and high costs for recovery.
Samsung Electronics appears to have judged that it is much more efficient to cut power and save electricity costs while waiting for foundry orders rather than keeping the equipment powered on. According to data from Korea Electric Power Corporation on the ‘Top 30 Power-Consuming Companies,’ Samsung Electronics purchased the most electricity among domestic companies last year, totaling 23,577 GWh from KEPCO. In the first and second quarters of this year, it purchased 5,661 GWh and 6,201 GWh, respectively.
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