Samsung's 2nm yields stuck at 55% — Tesla's $16.5 billion deal can't close the gap with TSMC
Samsung Foundry has started mass production of its first-generation 2nm process in 2025, moved equipment into its long-delayed Taylor, Texas fab in April 2025, and signed a $16.5 billion contract with Tesla in July 2025 to manufacture the AI6 processor. Yet none of these milestones have closed the revenue gap with TSMC, which remains roughly 11:1 in favor of the Taiwanese giant.
Samsung confirmed the 2nm production milestone in its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings report, the same release in which its foundry unit returned to profitability, driven by logic-die orders for HBM4 memory. However, reported yields on the 2nm node are sitting near 55%, below the threshold required to run advanced nodes profitably. The company's foundry division operates inside the Device Solutions segment alongside a memory business that posted record profits, allowing Samsung to absorb losses that a pure-play foundry could not sustain. Samsung does not publish a standalone foundry P&L, giving the operation years of financial runway.
What separates Samsung from TSMC is not fab capacity or customer relationships but yield. The gap in yield means Samsung's advanced nodes cost more per good die, undermining its competitive pricing strategy. While TSMC's 2nm yields are estimated above 80%, Samsung's 55% figure forces the company to either charge higher prices or accept thinner margins, both of which limit its ability to win large-volume orders from major clients like NVIDIA and AMD.
The Taylor, Texas project remains both the centerpiece of Samsung's roadmap and its longest-running headache. The full campus is designed to include two fabs and an administrative building. The first fab, Fab 1, was originally scheduled to begin operations in 2024 but has been delayed to 2026. The second fab, Fab 2, has no concrete timeline. Samsung has invested billions of dollars in the project, including tax incentives from the state of Texas and federal funding under the CHIPS Act. The delays have been attributed to construction issues, equipment installation challenges, and the need to qualify the facility for advanced nodes, which requires higher yield rates than Samsung currently achieves.
The company's foundry roadmap spans two countries and four campuses: Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, and Giheung in South Korea, plus the new Taylor site in the United States. Samsung's ability to close the yield gap will determine whether it can challenge TSMC for leadership in the second half of the decade, especially as demand for 2nm chips grows from automotive, AI, and mobile customers.
