Samsung fights off damage from contaminated DRAM semiconductor devices

In a report from BusinessKorea is has become apparent that Samsung suffers from significant damage in its foundry industry. Equipment for the fabrication of its chips, which could have an effect for the output throughout the production facility.

Businesskorea reports that defects have been found in Samsung Electronics’ foundry products. Earlier this year, the company had found problems in its first-generation 10-nm (1x ㎚) DRAM products. This time, defects were discovered in its foundry products, undermining the semiconductor giant’s reliability.

The defects were caused by the use of contaminated equipment on an 8-inch wafer line located in Samsung Electronics' Giheung Plant in Korea. A Samsung Electronics official acknowledged that defective products were found, but said that the process has already been normalized and that the damage is estimated at billions of Korean won.

However, some experts say that the damage may be much more than estimated by Samsung Electronics. "I understand that Samsung has not calculated the exact amount of the damage yet," said an industry insider. "The loss can be much larger than the company’s estimate.”

Irrespective of the scale of the damage, it really hurts Samsung Electronics that the defects themselves occurred to the global semiconductor leader. This is because Samsung Electronics is investing heavily in the foundry sector to take the global No. 1 position in the system semiconductor sector by 2030.