Samsung stock jumps 9%: why its 15% AI chip price hike matters

Samsung Electronics stock surged more than 9% on Thursday, rebounding from Wednesday’s rout after reports that the company had raised prices on selected advanced foundry orders by up to 15%.

The stock traded around 269,500 won after climbing to a high of 273,000 won. The pricing move applies to some new 4nm, 5nm and 8nm foundry orders.

Samsung has spent years trying to improve a loss-making contract-chipmaking business. The latest increases suggest AI-driven capacity constraints may finally be giving it some pricing power.

Samsung is showing the pricing power its foundry business needed

Samsung’s foundry unit has remained loss-making since 2022 and still trails Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Counterpoint Research put Samsung’s foundry revenue share at about 7% in the first quarter, compared with more than 70% for TSMC.

Until recently, much of the turnaround case rested on improving utilisation and manufacturing yields. Higher prices introduce a stronger earnings lever.

Samsung raised prices for 4nm customers in China and the US by 10% to 15%, while 5nm wafer prices rose by a similar amount and 8nm products increased by nearly 10%. Its 4nm line at Pyeongtaek has been running at full capacity since late last year.

KB Securities analyst Jeff Kim has argued that Samsung is approaching a period when memory, foundry and robotics can contribute together.

The analyst expects all three growth engines to be running from the second half of 2026.

AI shortages are giving Samsung more negotiating leverage

Samsung has not suddenly overtaken TSMC technologically. Instead, the scale of AI investment is creating shortages across advanced chips, memory and packaging, giving alternative suppliers more leverage.

TSMC is itself expected to raise prices for advanced processes by as much as 10% in 2027, while JPMorgan forecasts AI capital expenditure will exceed $1 trillion next year.

Samsung’s expanding Broadcom relationship illustrates the opportunity.

JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur wrote that Samsung is expected to remain Broadcom’s main HBM supplier, with some of the partnership also covering foundry wafers.

The shortage extends beyond logic chips. Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Byrd told Barron’s that “there isn’t enough memory vs. AI requirements” and said data-centre contacts were seeing no sign of shortages easing.

A 9% rally does not mean Samsung has caught TSMC

The latest pricing increases are encouraging, but Samsung’s competitive gap with TSMC remains substantial.

JPMorgan analyst Gokul Hariharan expects TSMC to retain more than 95% of the first waves of demand for its N2 and A16 technologies. He also believes progress on A14 should keep TSMC ahead of Samsung and Intel at the leading edge through 2029.

Samsung does not need to displace TSMC for its economics to improve. If leading-edge capacity remains tight, customers seeking a second source can still lift Samsung’s utilisation, pricing and margins.