foundry

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is adjusting the original purpose of its NRD-K Line 2 at the Giheung campus from a research and development facility to a wafer foundry line, with the main target product being the 2nm base chips required for NVIDIA's HBM. This production line is expected to be operational in the second half of 2028, adopting a "Send-Fab" model, which involves receiving wafers from other mass production lines and performing specific processes.NRD-K is the most advanced composite research and development campus built by Samsung Electronics to seize future semiconductor technology, with a total investment of approximately 20 trillion won, planning for three production lines, of which the first line is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. This adjustment aims to proactively respond to the expansion of HBM demand driven by investments in AI infrastructure. Samsung plans to first apply the 2nm process to custom HBM and HBM5 to maintain performance advantages.Industry insiders point out that the scale of NRD-K Line 2 is relatively small, making it suitable for operation in the Send-Fab format. However, there are still about two years until the production line is operational, and the final purpose may be adjusted again based on market conditions. Samsung had previously considered using this production line for DRAM production, but after modifications to the relevant plans this month, DRAM capacity will be more concentrated in the Pyeongtaek campus. Equipment procurement orders have not yet been officially issued.

According to Bloomberg, former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI fund Situational Awareness has splurged $400 million this week to support a private company, which is the semiconductor manufacturing startup Source Foundry. It is reported that VC giant Sequoia Capital has also provided support for this startup. So far, representatives from Situational Awareness and Source Foundry have not responded to requests for comments, while Sequoia Capital has declined to confirm the hedge fund's investment situation.It is reported that Source Foundry is dedicated to developing a semiconductor manufacturing process that is simpler, cheaper, and faster than existing methods, aiming to bridge the widening gap between the demand for AI computing power and the capacity expansion of chip manufacturing. Analysts believe that Leopold Aschenbrenner's large-scale investment reflects the ongoing strong demand in the market for new chip manufacturing technologies, as AI developers' demand for computing power is increasing day by day. However, this investment also reveals that Situational Awareness has formed a highly concentrated risk exposure before facing significant financial pressure due to severe fluctuations in its publicly held technology positions.

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics' 4nm wafer foundry capacity is fully loaded until next year, mainly driven by a surge in HBM4 orders and unexpected orders for LPU "Grok3" from Nvidia for inference. To address the capacity bottleneck, Samsung is actively recommending the validated 5nm process as an alternative to customers. This process was originally aimed at automotive chips and is now expanding into the server and high-performance AI/NPU chip sectors.The report states that in the recent 3-4 months, demand for 5nm from customers has significantly increased, mainly from Chinese and Indian fabless companies that have shifted due to tight supply of advanced processes from TSMC and geopolitical factors. Additionally, inquiries from customers regarding the 2nm process are also ongoing.

Antpool mined Bitcoin block 941,881 at 15:49:35 UTC, and Foundry USA mined another version at the same height 12 seconds later, leading to a brief formation of two competing chains on the Bitcoin blockchain.Subsequently, ViaBTC extended block 941,882 on the Antpool version, and Foundry USA continued to extend its own branch. Foundry USA then consecutively mined blocks 941,883 to 941,886, with its branch accumulating more work. Nodes then reorganized to the Foundry USA version, and the blocks mined by Antpool and ViaBTC were orphaned. Relevant miners lost the corresponding block rewards and transaction fees, and transactions not confirmed on the winning chain re-entered the memory pool and were confirmed in subsequent blocks.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia citing multiple informed sources, TSMC (TSM.N) plans to raise the foundry prices for advanced and mature process chips by up to 10% in 2027, in response to rising costs of materials, manufacturing equipment, and the construction of new overseas plants. TSMC has begun discussions with customers regarding the price increase, which involves 7-nanometer and more advanced processes. This segment contributed approximately 77% of TSMC's revenue in the quarter from April to June this year.Informed sources indicated that the basic price increase will range from 5% to 10%, depending on the customer and product. For new orders of high-performance computing (HPC) chips that exceed the customer's original forecast, TSMC plans to impose an additional premium of 10% to 15% on top of the basic price increase. As a result, the overall price increase for some advanced process chip orders may exceed 10%. In terms of mature processes (including 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 28-nanometer processes, and other traditional technologies), TSMC plans to raise prices by up to 10%, but some products will see increases below this level. The mature process business accounted for about 23% of the company's revenue in the last quarter. Informed sources stated that relevant negotiations began around June and were finalized in July, with the new prices set to take effect in early 2027.

According to reports from South Korean media, Samsung Electronics' foundry business is accelerating its expansion in the global AI chip market. Following last year's acquisition of Tesla's AI chip orders, Samsung is currently advancing production cooperation for customized chips (ASIC) with Meta and Anthropic.It is reported that Meta is negotiating a next-generation ASIC design and production contract with Samsung worth over 10 trillion Korean won. Meta's third-generation AI accelerator "MTIA" plans to shift from TSMC to large-scale production using Samsung's advanced 2-nanometer process, with early chip architecture design being jointly conducted by Samsung's System LSI division to align with its rapid six-month development cycle. In addition, the American AI company Anthropic is also evaluating the use of Samsung's 2-nanometer process to develop exclusive ASICs, aiming to advance the internalization of its AI infrastructure.Industry insiders point out that with the influx of AI chip orders from global tech giants, along with ongoing negotiations for automotive chip foundry agreements with BYD, Samsung's foundry business is expected to approach a medium to long-term order reserve of 50 trillion Korean won, and is likely to turn a profit in operating income in the fourth quarter of this year.

According to Nikkei Asia, due to the surge in demand for AI infrastructure leading to tight advanced chip capacity at TSMC, companies such as BYD, Google, AMD, and Tesla are increasingly turning to Samsung Electronics for chip foundry services.Insiders revealed that BYD is negotiating with Samsung to produce future generations of autonomous driving chips; Google is exploring the possibility of Samsung manufacturing the next-generation Axion processor and some TPU chips expected to launch in 2028; AMD is also in talks for Samsung to produce some future CPUs starting in 2028. Additionally, Tesla's upcoming AI6 chip will also be produced at Samsung's Texas factory.Industry insiders pointed out that although Samsung still lags behind TSMC in chip yield, its available capacity advantage is making it an attractive option. At the same time, due to TSMC's capacity constraints and geopolitical factors, an increasing number of Chinese and American companies are adopting a diversified supply chain strategy to spread orders among multiple foundries.

According to Fortune, Bitcoin mining pool giant Foundry has officially launched a new mining pool for the privacy coin Zcash.Foundry CEO Mike Colyer stated that this move aims to respond to the growing demand from large institutions for privacy coins. Currently, the mining pool has attracted several institutional miners, with its output accounting for nearly one-third of the newly added Zcash on the entire network.Zcash achieves transaction privacy based on zero-knowledge proof technology while supporting selective disclosure to meet compliance requirements, making it more favored by institutions compared to its competitor Monero.Boosted by this news, the price of Zcash has increased by over 75% in the past 30 days, with a current market capitalization of approximately $6.3 billion. Foundry currently controls about 31% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, making it the largest Bitcoin mining pool operator in the world.

According to U.Today, the Bitcoin network experienced a rare two-block reorganization last night. At height 941880, the network briefly split into two competing chains. AntPool mined block 941881, and ViaBTC subsequently mined block 941882 on the same chain; meanwhile, Foundry USA mined its version of block 941881 and continued to mine its version of block 941882. After Foundry USA continued to mine blocks 941883, 941884, and 941885, the competing chain was broken, and the blocks from AntPool and ViaBTC were discarded as orphan blocks.This reorganization was not an attack or a failure, but rather a normal result of Bitcoin's decentralized consensus mechanism. Single-block reorganizations occur from time to time, but two-block reorganizations are relatively rare, indicating that the tie between the two chains lasted for an entire block cycle. Foundry USA mined seven consecutive blocks from 941879 to 941885.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining pool operator Foundry Digital plans to launch a domestic Zcash mining pool in the U.S. next month, providing a mining platform built around compliance reviews, reporting standards, and operational controls for institutional and publicly traded company miners.Foundry CEO Mike Colyer stated that Zcash has evolved into an institutional-grade asset, but its mining infrastructure has not kept pace. He pointed out that institutional and publicly traded miners looking to gain exposure to Zcash previously lacked a compliance-specific infrastructure in the U.S. The mining pool will implement KYC and anti-money laundering compliance reviews for participants, with mining rewards distributed through transparent Zcash addresses rather than concealed ones, using a PPLNS payment model, and with no minimum hash rate threshold.Privacy coins have recently regained market attention, with ZEC rising over 670% in the past 12 months, XMR increasing by 72% during the same period, and DASH up by 51%. After Bitcoin's halving in 2024, mining profitability has tightened, with hash rate prices dropping from over $60 per PH to $30, prompting several large mining companies to explore other PoW networks to diversify their revenue sources. Colyer stated that this move is not primarily in response to declining Bitcoin profits, as Foundry's Bitcoin mining business remains solid, and the company is currently focused on both Bitcoin and Zcash chains.

Fractal Bitcoin network announced that it has successfully activated the FIP-101 node upgrade at block height 1,500,000, completing the first phase of consensus changes and initiating the construction of standardized indexing; this upgrade received support from major mining pools, covering approximately 85% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate.The Fractal block structure will also gradually transition from a joint mining and independent mining ratio of 1:2 to a ternary structure of joint mining, independent mining, and indexing block production at a ratio of 1:1:1, with indexing nodes being incorporated into the core layer of the block production and incentive system.

According to Cointelegraph, due to the impact of the winter storm "Fern" in the United States, the Foundry USA Bitcoin mining pool has reduced its hash rate by about 60% since last Friday. Data shows that its hash rate has decreased by nearly 200 EH/s and currently controls about 198 EH/s, accounting for 23% of the total global mining pool hash rate. This reduction has led to an extended block time of approximately 12 minutes.The storm has swept across many parts of the United States, causing over a million residents to lose power. Other mining pools serving U.S. users, including Luxor, have also implemented hash rate reductions to alleviate pressure on the grid infrastructure. Bitcoin miners, as controllable load resources, can shut down during peak grid demand and turn on during low demand, helping to balance the grid load. The current storm is affecting parts of the southeastern, northeastern, and midwestern United States.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized layer0 platform Analog announced that it will launch a public sale today at Fjord Foundry. The public offering will take place from January 21, 05:00 (UTC) to January 23, 16:59 (UTC), and the tokens will be fully unlocked at TGE.Previously, Analog completed a $1.5 million public round on the Republic platform.

ChainCatcher message, the AI data layer protocol Glacier Network announced on platform X that it has completed a total of approximately $4.2 million in public sale fundraising through Fjord Foundry.In addition, Glacier Network also announced that 10% of the total supply of GLS tokens has been allocated, with the token's launch on CEX and DEX expected on December 18.

ChainCatcher news, the cryptocurrency venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) has decided to split its Foundry mining business into two independent entities, Fortitude Mining and Foundry.Fortitude Mining will house Foundry's previous self-mining operations and physical infrastructure. On the other hand, Foundry will maintain its pool operations and other Bitcoin mining service lines.DCG noted in a shareholder letter that it is adjusting its business to accommodate future growth. The letter stated, "We believe that (Fortitude) will be stronger as an independent company, so we are spinning it off as a wholly-owned subsidiary of DCG."To ensure a smoother transition, DCG will bring some of Foundry's leadership into the new subsidiary. To gain further support and raise funds, DCG plans to recruit additional staff from outside. Fortitude has already requested its hosting service providers to invoice the new entity, which has been ongoing for at least a month. (Blockspace)Previously, sources disclosed that the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool, Foundry, is laying off 27% of its workforce during the planned restructuring, affecting 16% of Foundry's employees in the U.S. and parts of the team in India.

ChainCatcher news, CreatorBid on the Al Launchpad on Base stated that the public sale originally scheduled for December 9 at Fjord Foundry was thwarted by a DDoS attack and system attacks such as evading maximum purchase limits on the eve of the sale, resulting in the sale's failure. CreatorBid will fully refund the funds received during the sale to legitimate participants. CreatorBid stated that it will work with KYC provider Fractal to conduct AML/KYC reviews of participants' wallets to ensure that funds are not returned to malicious actors. The current team is evaluating the next steps for the newly launched token.In response, crypto detective ZachXBT commented: "I hope you know that Fractal leaked the KYC of thousands of people earlier this year; if you call it trustworthy, then your team seems to have done no basic due diligence."

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinGape, Bitcoin mining company Foundry has implemented layoffs, with the number of layoffs reaching up to 60%. According to anonymous sources, the layoffs affect employees in both the U.S. and international offices. The company had 250 employees and now only has 80 to 90 left.Foundry is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), which stated that the layoffs are aimed at helping to focus on DCG's next steps.

ChainCatcher news, semiconductor leader TSMC held a corporate briefing on the 17th of last year, announcing its Q3 financial report and Q4 financial forecast. The impressive results not only caused TSMC's ADR (American Depositary Receipt) to surge by 12% at one point, but also led to a significant increase in TSMC's stock price, reaching 1100 NTD during trading this morning, a rare historical high, closing at 1085 NTD, with an increase of 4.83%. TSMC's recently released Q3 financial report shows that the company's revenue and profits significantly exceeded market expectations.According to the latest data, the consolidated revenue for the quarter reached 759.69 billion NTD, indicating that the company's operational status remains robust. The strong global demand for artificial intelligence hardware is also one of the key factors driving TSMC's performance growth. Analysts point out that the ongoing AI boom will continue to enhance TSMC's revenue expectations and effectively alleviate market concerns about insufficient chip demand.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, as of the archived data on August 24, 2024, Foundry USA and Antpool have become the dominant forces in Bitcoin mining over the past three days, collectively controlling 56.7% of the network's total hash rate. Foundry and Antpool particularly benefited from this week's surge in fees, which led to block fees being significantly higher than usual.As of now, the total hash rate of the Bitcoin network hovers around 651 EH/s, with Foundry contributing approximately 215.79 EH/s over the past three days, maintaining a strong hash rate contribution of about 199.02 EH/s over the past seven days. The second-ranked Antpool's three-day contribution reached 153.55 EH/s, with a seven-day contribution of 162.55 EH/s.Back in January, Foundry's hash rate contribution was 140.26 EH/s, which has now increased by 75.53 EH/s. In contrast, Antpool's growth has been more stable, starting the year at 147.40 EH/s, but it has consistently maintained its position as the second-largest mining pool throughout 2024.