TSMC's capital expenditure will reach US$44 billion in 2022, surpassing Samsung for the first time, according to reports

Samsung Electronics' goal of becoming the number one foundry by 2030 faces huge obstacles as TSMC plans to invest $44 billion in 2022 to consolidate its leading position, including $42.1 billion in foundry alone, which is more than Samsung Electronics' total investment of $33.5 billion in memory, foundry and infrastructure last year.

According to The Korea Herald, 2022 will be the first year that Samsung Electronics will be surpassed by TSMC in chip investment. The former's capital expenditure this year is about US$37.9 billion, but its capital expenditure in 2020 and 2021 reached US$27.7 billion and US$33.7 billion, respectively, far exceeding TSMC's US$15.5 billion and US$30 billion in the same period.

The report pointed out that this means that the uncertainty of its desire to replace TSMC as the leading foundry will be further increased. "Since the foundry business requires huge investments, it is difficult for Samsung Electronics to catch up with TSMC under the current business structure."

Behind TSMC's massive chip investment is its amazing performance in 2021. Last year, TSMC's revenue increased by 24.9% year-on-year to US$56.8 billion, while operating profit increased by 40.9% to US$23.2 billion, almost equivalent to 90% of Samsung Electronics' overall chip business operating profit of US$25.6 billion.

As TSMC increases its chip investment, the gap between it and Samsung Electronics is expected to widen further. According to TrendForce, in the third quarter of last year, TSMC had a 53.1% share of the global foundry semiconductor market, followed by Samsung Electronics with 17.1%.

Samsung Electronics knows that it cannot surpass TSMC in terms of scale, so it is going all out for technological leadership, with the goal of mass-producing 3nm chips in the first half of this year, at least one month ahead of TSMC's mass production plan (in the second half of the year).