Samsung Electronics has opened a new strategic door for its long-unprofitable foundry business by investing in the AI star company Anthropic. According to a report on Friday, Anthropic recently completed its H-round financing, raising $65 billion with a post-investment valuation of $965 billion. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron participated in this funding round as "strategic infrastructure partners." Notably, Anthropic explicitly mentioned "logic chip" supply in its announcement. Among the three investors, only Samsung Electronics operates a foundry business. This statement is widely interpreted by the industry as an indication that Samsung is likely to secure foundry orders for the AI chips required by Anthropic's "Claude" model. If this potential order materializes, it will mark another significant milestone for Samsung's foundry business, which has recently secured several major clients. Prior to this, Samsung has already won contracts to manufacture Tesla's next-generation AI chips "AI5" and "AI6," and is producing Nvidia's inference-specific language processing chip "Groq3." Industry expectations suggest that with the continuous expansion of its core AI client base, Samsung's foundry business could achieve profitability next year. The mention of logic chips serves as a key signal. In its financing announcement, Anthropic emphasized that the technologies of its three semiconductor partners "play a central role in the global supply of memory, storage, and logic chips," adding that this partnership will help "securely scale compute capacity to meet customer needs." The production process for logic chips falls within the core scope of foundry operations. Since neither SK Hynix nor Micron operates a foundry division, industry analysis suggests the statement effectively points to Samsung Electronics, hinting that the collaboration will extend beyond mere memory supply to include the contract manufacturing of AI chips. Major clients are being secured one after another, indicating an accelerated recovery for the foundry business. Samsung's foundry division has recently shown clear momentum in client acquisition. In addition to the Tesla AI chips and Nvidia's Groq3 chip, Samsung will also supply image sensors for Apple's new iPhone models next year. Currently, Samsung holds the second position in the global foundry market with a 7.2% share. However, the gap with TSMC, which commands a 69.9% market share, remains substantial at 62.7 percentage points. Samsung's foundry business has recorded losses for several consecutive years. If it can successfully add Anthropic to its client portfolio, it would further solidify its competitive position in the AI chip foundry sector. An "all-in-one solution" serves as a differentiating advantage. Samsung has positioned its investment in Anthropic as a comprehensive strategic partnership covering "AI semiconductors, memory, foundry, and AI infrastructure." The company highlights its "all-in-one solution," integrating High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), advanced foundry processes, and advanced packaging, as a core differentiating selling point. As competition in the AI market shifts from a singular focus on HBM supply to encompassing the entire ecosystem chain—including AI chip design, production, packaging, and system optimization—Samsung is attempting to leverage its full-stack semiconductor capabilities to secure greater strategic space within the industry landscape of the AI era. An industry insider commented, "This investment by Samsung should not be viewed merely as a financial move. It is a signal of Samsung's intent to comprehensively deepen its strategic relationship with a core player in the AI era. External expectations are rising regarding whether Samsung's foundry business can seize the opportunity presented by the expansion of the AI market."
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