Despite Economic Tug of War between Korea and Japan

Samsung Electronics will hold a foundry forum in Japan in September as scheduled.

Samsung Electronics will hold a foundry forum in Japan in September despite the worsening trade conflicts between Korea and Japan. Industry experts say that Samsung wants to deliver the message that there is no disruption to its foundry business despite Japan’s restrictions on exports of semiconductor materials to Korea.

The company announced on July 28 that the Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2019 Japan will be held as scheduled on Sept. 4 at Intercity Hall in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It has been receiving applications from those who want to take part in the event through its website from July 26.


Samsung Electronics will showcase its proprietary nanofabrication technology and offer a gate-all-around (GAA) process kit. The GAA technology will be used for fabrication of 3 nm or lower semiconductors. Samsung is said to be one year ahead of TSMC, the world's No. 1 foundry, and two to three years ahead of Intel, in GAA technology.

Samsung Electronics held a foundry forum in the United States in May, in Shanghai, China in June, and in Seoul in July. The event in Tokyo will be followed by another in Munich, Germany in October.

Following the Japanese government’s decision on July 4 to restrict exports of core semiconductor materials, industry watchers questions whether Samsung Electronics would be able to hold the event as scheduled. However, Samsung has decided to hold it as scheduled.

In particular, as Samsung’s foundry business is most vulnerable to Japan's export regulations, Samsung’s decision not to call off the forum in Japan shows its strong will to nurture the non-memory business. Photoresists, which are one of the items subject to Japan’s export control, are used as a core material for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment that draws circuit patterns in the foundry process.

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