AMD may follow Tesla and Apple into giving Samsung billions of dollars

Samsung had a tough time winning customers for its 3nm process as the industry largely went with TSMC. The company's 2nm process has inspired confidence, though, which is why Tesla and Apple have both inked major chipmaking deals with Samsung Foundry.

It appears that AMD might be heading in that same direction. A new report out of South Korea claims that the two companies are close to signing a deal.

AMD is a leading chip designer but it doesn't have a foundry. TSMC is the world's top foundry but its capacity is tapped out, leaving Samsung as the only viable alternative.

Samsung has been able to convince customers that it can reliably make chips on its 2nm process. Tesla inked a deal worth more than $16 billion while Apple confirmed Samsung will make chips, including those for future iPhones, at its Texas plant.

Samsung's foundry division is reportedly ironing out a plan to produce AMD's 2nm CPU chip on its 2nm SF2P process. It will utilize the multi-project wafers method where chips designed by different companies are produced on a single wafer.

The report mentions that AMD and Samsung are aiming to finalize this contract by January 2026. If it all works out, there's the expectation that production numbers will be significant. These major contracts should go a long way in helping Samsung Foundry close the gap to TSMC.

As capacity constraints limit the number of orders TSMC can take, Samsung Foundry finds itself in a good place to benefit from the overflow.