SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics expects the number of foundry projects awarded for its 2-nanometer process to more than double in 2026 compared with 2025. The projection, disclosed during the company’s October 29 third-quarter earnings call, reflects orders from cloud providers and artificial-intelligence chip developers. Samsung did not publish the underlying project counts, contract values or shipment volumes.

The distinction matters for an advanced chip factory. Winning a customer design project does not guarantee completed tape-out, production qualification or revenue. Samsung reported additional 2nm business from major cloud service providers and high-performance computing customers during the September quarter, while its official earnings release said foundry sales and earnings had improved. The company did not break out standalone 2nm profit.

Samsung Semiconductor Newsroom explains gate-all-around nanosheet transistors and their planned progression from 3nm toward 2nm in an official July 2023 video. The educational video predates Samsung’s October 2026 order forecast. Source: Samsung Semiconductor Newsroom.

Orders are not wafer shipments

A project award can involve design services, prototype wafers, testing and eventual manufacturing commitments. Its financial value depends on chip complexity, wafer volume, yields, contractual terms and production timing. Samsung’s more-than-twofold forecast counts project awards rather than a doubling of wafer starts, delivered dies, revenue or customers. No comparable baseline was supplied for an accurate production-volume chart.

Samsung expects 2027 growth to come from 4nm and 2nm manufacturing, supported by AI and high-performance computing demand. Management also projected that HPC would exceed half of its foundry sales mix next year. Both assertions are forecasts, not 2026 completed results. Samsung’s announced second-generation 2nm mobile-chip production ramp for the fourth quarter still faces yield stabilization and customer qualification.

Taylor fab and competition

Samsung said the first factory at Taylor, Texas, had begun cleanroom operations, equipment installation and line setup. Commercial operations are planned for 2027, with management reviewing additional U.S. and South Korean capacity. Earlier BitcoinVersus.Tech coverage of Taylor’s 2nm readiness examined the construction and equipment milestones; commissioning a cleanroom is not the same as producing qualified chips at scale.

Gate-all-around transistors improve electrostatic control of the channel at advanced nodes. Samsung has deployed GAA architecture since its earlier 3nm generation. A TechInsights analysis covered by BitcoinVersus.Tech documented Samsung 3nm GAA technology inside a Bitcoin mining ASIC, demonstrating an application distinct from current 2nm AI orders. Technical process-node names do not directly describe a physical gate length.

The commercial test remains competition with TSMC, whose third-quarter results demonstrated strong advanced-chip demand. Samsung can potentially offer a combination of foundry logic, memory and advanced packaging, but close integration brings additional production, cost and delivery risks. Its HBM4 supply push involving AMD provides broader AI infrastructure context without proving foundry gains from the newly awarded 2nm projects.

For 2027, the clearest scorecard will be disclosed production starts, stable wafer yields, customer qualification, qualified shipment volumes, utilization rates and foundry operating profitability. More project orders would strengthen Samsung’s potential pipeline; only manufacturing and financial outcomes can establish whether the forecast becomes a sustained chipmaking recovery.

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