Samsung Foundry gearing up to make its debut in the GPU industry

Samsung Electronics is playing with new strategies as it teases investment to get into the GPU market. The giant has recently approved an investment in the GPU business, suggesting that it is looking forward to making its debut in the GPU industry.
Reports of Samsung’s intention to build GPUs come into existence in its FY 2023 Corporate Government Report, which hits a March 19, 2024, meeting of its Management Committee during which “Investment in GPU Business” was approved. One possibility is that it is readying its foundry business to build GPUs. Samsung is the world’s second-largest foundry business by revenue, behind TSMC.
However, it could be possible that Samsung’s GPU investment might be about building them for others, not necessarily making their own. As a major foundry already, the Korean giant could be gearing up to expand its services to include building GPUs. This would benefit other brands, such as NVIDIA, by offering another manufacturing option, especially considering the current high demand for AI and the potential risks associated with TSMC’s location.
Building its GPUs for smartphone devices is another probability. Samsung already bakes GPUs into its Exynos SoCs, but its latest model, the 2400, includes an Xclipse 940 GPU built on AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture. The Korean giant uses Exynos silicon in several devices but generally integrates its silicon and Qualcomm’s across its range of flagship Galaxy S devices. The report from Korean media suggests that Samsung will debut its Exynos in 2025, which will outperform Qualcomm’s chips.
The other rumor hints that 2026’s Exynos models will add a Samsung-developed GPU. The reason behind this decision appears to be a new strategic move to gain more control over its device hardware. Somewhere, it seems that it can’t replicate control over both the hardware and software of Apple completely because it relies on Android. However, it is possible that building their GPUs would permit the brand to better customize their devices. This could lead to improvements in areas such as on-device AI and mobile gaming performance.
Building premium GPUs is a tough challenge; making compatible parts to work with Nvidia’s software (CUDA) could be an option, although Nvidia would potentially fight back legally stronger against Samsung as compared to Chinese companies.