Samsung is apparently feeling confident enough on the back of its rapidly growing coffers to try to eat some of TSMC's lunch, especially the proverbial course related to MediaTek, if one were to adhere to a cullinary-themed analogy.
As a case in point, consider the latest rumor, which posits that Samsung's Chairman is currently courting MediaTek on TSMC's home turf.
Samsung wants to rope in MediaTek as a foundry client, and is not above dangling lucrative memory deals to achieve its goals
According to a Taiwanese publication, Samsung's Chairman, Lee Jae-yong visited Taiwan on May 21 with a high-level entourage. One of the main agendas of the stealth visit was to meet MediaTek's CEO, Cai Lixing.
Sources believe that after securing a fabrication order for Tesla's AI6 chip, all the while actively courting AMD for its 2nm process, Samsung is now eyeing MediaTek as the next major foundry customer. And, to stack the cards in its favor, Samsung is apparently not above offering MediaTek preferential access to its precious memory chips for the upcoming Dimensity-class mobile SoCs.
In doing so, Samsung is apparently rehashing the tactics it used earlier to lure Qualcomm as a foundry client. This visit also comes at a time when relations between MediaTek and TSMC are already somewhat strained.
After all, MediaTek recently awarded the advanced packaging contract for Google's inference-focused 8th-gen TPU to Intel, while retaining TSMC's packaging services for the training-focused iteration of the 8th-gen TPU. Do note that Google has picked MediaTek as its major design partner for these TPUs. At any rate, dislodging TSMC appears to be a tall order for Samsung even if the momentum is certainly favoring it at the moment.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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