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On May 13, an executive of Samsung told a reporter from the Financial Times at a factory south of Seoul: "For the foreseeable future, I think our market share can maintain the status quo even if it does not increase."

The shortage of automotive chips related to the epidemic has intensified people's concerns about relying on foreign key technology manufacturers, after which the United States and Europe have increased investment in this field.

But analysts say that Samsung’s leadership is unlikely to be challenged immediately.

Velu Sinha, a partner at Bain & Company, a US strategic consulting firm, said: “If there is a new foundry that will go online before 2025, then it’s time to break ground this year when you sign up. Therefore, It is unlikely that what is happening now will change the pattern in the next two to three years."

For decades, Samsung has dominated the production of DRAM chips and NAND, but the company’s warnings to challengers are not based solely on past performance. Samsung believes that its position is worry-free because it has made advancements in manufacturing technology and the cost of manufacturing chips is getting higher and higher.

Samsung and TSMC’s semiconductor spending battle for the top spot

Sinha said: "This pace is accelerating at present. It is difficult for established companies like Samsung to continue research and investment. It is not easy for other suppliers to talk about it."

Since Samsung's founders Li Bingzhe and Li Jianxi rushed to invest in semiconductor development in 1974, a large number of engineers have focused on one task: studying how to store more data on smaller chips.

At the end of 2020, Samsung's chip production capacity accounted for 15% of the world's total, which puts the company ahead of TSMC and memory chip rival Micron Technology.

Global share of chip production capacity of each company

Samsung also pointed out that it is a leader in intellectual property and engineering experience and can defend its position. Samsung's spending also dwarfs the digitalization plans of the United States and the European Union.

In addition, the data provided by IC Insights shows that in the past three years, Samsung has invested 93.2 billion US dollars in the semiconductor business. The company said: "The EU and the United States have to catch up in the semiconductor competition with Samsung and TSMC, and they need to invest every year. There may be a chance of success for more than 30 billion U.S. dollars and for at least 5 years."