Samsung Electronics has secured two high-profile chip manufacturing contracts — one from Google and one from Elon Musk’s Neuralink — in a major boost for its long-struggling foundry business. The deals come as rival TSMC faces capacity constraints that are reshaping the global semiconductor landscape and creating new opportunities for alternative manufacturers.
Google is in active discussions with Samsung to manufacture a memory input-output die for its 10th-generation tensor processing unit, codenamed “Icefish.” The chip would leverage Samsung’s advanced 2-nanometer process technology, with TSMC handling the primary computing engine on its 1.4nm node. Reuters also reported that Google is collaborating with MediaTek on the chip’s design, with mass production potentially beginning as early as 2028.
Equally significant is Samsung’s first-ever contract from Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company. The project, internally codenamed “O1,” uses Samsung’s 4-nanometer FinFET process and involves developing Neuralink’s fourth-generation chip — a device designed to enable bidirectional communication between the brain and electronic devices, going beyond previous generations that could only read brain signals. Production of initial test chips began in May 2026, with shipments scheduled for the first half of 2027.
These wins come at a pivotal time for Samsung’s foundry division. The company’s utilization rates exceeded 80% in Q1 2026, a one-year high, while analysts project the foundry unit could return to profitability as early as 2027. Samsung has positioned itself as the only chipmaker capable of offering memory, logic manufacturing, and advanced packaging under one roof — a compelling proposition for customers seeking alternatives to TSMC.
The backdrop to these deals is the widely acknowledged capacity crisis at TSMC, whose Chairman C.C. Wei admitted in late 2025 that demand was “about three times” what the company could supply. This mismatch between supply and demand has opened doors for Samsung to win contracts from clients who previously relied exclusively on TSMC’s facilities.
Samsung recently began shipping industry-first 12-layer HBM4E memory samples with bandwidth reaching 3.6 terabytes per second, further strengthening its position in the AI hardware ecosystem. With AI driving unprecedented semiconductor demand, Samsung’s growing portfolio of advanced chip contracts positions it well for a multi-year recovery in its foundry business.
