Samsung Slips Further Behind TSMC In Chipmaking Race -- FT -- July 18, 2022

Link here. 

The data points from this article behind a paywall.

• Samsung announced it would become the world's top chipmaking foundry
• three years after that announcement, top rival TSM C has captured a larger market share, prompting Samsung to replace several executives
• June 30, 2022: Samsung said it had started to mass produce 3-nm chips, the first company to achieve that feat -- it appeared the conglomerate had moved a step ahead in the advanced chip race
• but the announcement stopped short of telling the full story
• who are the clients for the 3-nm chip? Samsung won't say
• indications are that the 3-nm production will be small in scale
  
• customers are likely to be cryptominers in China
• Samsung problems:
• started mass producing 5-nm chips in 2Q20 but was unable to raise the yield rate
• was not able to provide stable supplies of smartphone chips to Qualcomm, its largest client
• Qualcomm expanded its outsourcing volume from TSMC last autumn (2021)
• Samsung lost orders
• TSMC started mass producing 5-nm chips about the same time Samsung started producing 5-nm chips
• TSMC became the sole contract manufacturer for Apple's CPUs
• Apple has very quick turnaround times due to high sales
• other than TSMC, no other operator is able to deliver on that front
• 5-nm:
• TSMC has greatly expanded it lead
• 1Q22: TSMC captured 53.6 percent of the foundry market
• Samsung: a distant second at 16.3 percent 
• 3-nm:
• TSMC is preparing to mass produce 3-nm chips by the end of 2022
• the company is setting up production sites in Hsinchu and Taiman, both on Taiwan
• Intel has temporarily stepped back from the race but will eventually re-engage
• smart phones:
• Samsung is a competitor with Apple
• Apple can't trust contracting for chips from Samsung
• TSMC does not compete with Apple; TSMC does not make cell phones, but Samsung does