Samsung System LSI to secure more OLED DDI capacity from UMC

Samsung is planning to secure more production capacity for OLED display driver ICs from its contract chip maker UMC of Taiwan next year.

Samsung System LSI, the unit that designs logic chips, is expected to order more of its display driver ICs made due to high demand for them by key customers, sources said.

The South Korean tech giant is expected to secure 15% more capacity next year compared to 2022, from 13,000 wafers per month to around 15,000 wafers per month.

Display driver ICs are used to convert digital signals to light and is a key component in display panels.

ICs made from 12-inch wafers are used mostly for panels for smartphones.

Samsung System LSI is the world’s largest maker of these ICs and controls over half of the worldwide market.

This is because its customers include Samsung and Apple, two of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers.

Its ICs are used by Samsung Display, the display-making unit of Samsung, which uses them on its OLED panels supplied to Samsung and Apple.

Samsung System LSI, which itself doesn’t manufacture the chips, gives the contract production work to Samsung Foundry and UMC.

UMC has a 12-inch wafer line that makes these chips in the 28nm. It also contract manufactures CMOS image sensors for the South Korean tech giant.

Samsung provides production equipment to its Taiwanese partner, which is building a new fab called P6 in their home country.

While UMC is expected to manufacture more, Samsung Foundry is expected to make the same amount of display driver ICs next year as it did this year.