---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: 02 · Company fundamentals
status: done
latency_ms: 171188
conversation_id: 73b109c4-0f8b-47bc-a20a-d8792e008a5e
citations: 3
created: 2026-05-31 16:51:33Z
---

# Who are the key customers and suppliers of Samsung Electronics?

# Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) — Key Customers & Suppliers

Samsung Electronics (SEC) is "the global No.1 in the memory semiconductor business with the largest global DRAM and NAND market share as well as being the top vendor for logic foundry service" [3]. Its customer/supplier ecosystem spans memory, foundry, mobile (MX), display, and consumer durables, with the heaviest concentration of strategic relationships in semiconductors.

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## 1. Key Customers

### A. Memory (DRAM / NAND / HBM) — the highest-profile customer set

**HBM Revenue by Customer (2025 estimate per CLSA):** [1]

| Customer | % of SEC HBM revenue (2025CL) |
|---|---|
| **ASIC customers** (custom AI accelerators) | **55%** |
| **AMD** | **23%** |
| **NVIDIA** | **20%** |
| Others | 2% |

- **NVIDIA**: Single most-watched HBM customer. SEC is "still in the process of completing its HBM3E 12-Hi qualification with Nvidia" and is targeting supply in 2H25 [2]. The pace of NVIDIA approval is a stated investment risk — "constant struggles/delays in HBM product qualification to Nvidia" is the named major risk on the name [2].
- **AMD**: Second-largest named HBM customer at ~23% of HBM revenue; AMD qualification was also "delayed" in 2Q25 [2].
- **ASIC customers** (hyperscaler-designed custom silicon — Google TPU, AWS Trainium/Inferentia, Meta MTIA, and others under that umbrella) — collectively the largest HBM customer bucket at 55% [1].
- **Hyperscaler/OEM server customers** for high-density server DRAM and conventional DDR5/DDR4 — SEC management emphasizes server bill-of-material exposure ("memory BOM accounts for about 30% or 40%" of server cost) and the deepening dependency of hyperscale buyers on memory [8].

### B. Foundry / Logic — second flagship business

- **Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Google** — explicitly named on Samsung's investor forum as "big technology companies … all of them want to develop their own chip … they came to us, can you build that for us?" [8]. These ASIC/hyperscaler design wins are core to Samsung Foundry's HPC pivot.
- **NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm** — listed among consolidated "companies mentioned" alongside SEC in CLSA's June 2025 deep-dive [6], reflecting standing foundry/memory customer dialogue.
- **Tier-1 automotive OEMs and MCU makers** — Samsung names automotive (advanced RF, 8-nm/14-nm eMRAM) as a strategic growth vertical where they cooperate "with the top automotive customers" and plan to lift non-mobile share above 50% by 2027.
- **Qualcomm** named in the foundry node-discussion context (3nm/4nm advanced node mobile SoC pipeline).

### C. Mobile (MX / Galaxy) and Consumer Electronics

- **End consumers** worldwide for Galaxy smartphones, tablets, wearables, TVs (VD), and home appliances (DA). MX alone is the largest "internal" revenue contributor at 31% of consolidated revenue mix [7].
- **Harman customers** — automotive OEMs use Harman/Samsung connected-car and audio (3% of revenue) [7].
- **Carrier customers** (network business) — Verizon, KDDI, Vodafone, Bharti, Reliance Jio, etc., on 5G network equipment (Samsung competes with **Ericsson, Nokia** [6]).

### D. Display (Samsung Display, OLED)

- **Apple** — the single most material Display customer; Samsung Display supplies the OLED panels for iPhone (referenced as a key OLED customer in the CLSA universe alongside SEC [6]).
- Other smartphone OEMs (Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo) and increasingly **IT/automotive/micro-LED** customers as part of Samsung Display's diversification [8].

---

## 2. Key Suppliers

### A. Korean Specialty-Chemicals & Materials Ecosystem

- **Hansol Chemical (014680 KS)** — a "structural" precursor and H₂O₂ supplier; Samsung Electronics' foundry alone accounts for "c.30% of Hanchem's H2O2 business" [4]. Hansol's earnings cadence tracks SEC foundry utilization closely [5].
- **Resonac (4004 JP)** — semiconductor materials supplier (chemical mechanical planarization slurries, packaging substrates) — covered as a Samsung-linked materials name in CLSA's June 2025 note.
- **Tosoh (4042 JP), Zeon (4205 JP)** — Japanese chemical suppliers feeding SEC's DRAM / NAND / foundry process lines (recurring counterparties in CLSA's coverage).

### B. Semiconductor Equipment (front-end fab tools)

On Samsung's own characterization at the investor forum, the equipment-supplier ecosystem has two layers [9]:

- **Leading international equipment suppliers** — Samsung explicitly names **ASML** ("SML" in the transcript context referring to EUV lithography) and works with the global tool majors: **Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), Tokyo Electron (8035 JP), KLA, ASM International, BESI, Lasertec (6920 JP)** — all appear in CLSA's Samsung-linked semiconductor-equipment notes.
- **Korean domestic equipment ecosystem** — Samsung actively cultivates smaller Korean tool vendors as a strategic complement to global suppliers [9].

### C. Memory-Industry Structure (Suppliers TO and Competitors WITH SEC)

The DRAM market is consolidated to three suppliers; Samsung itself accounts for "about 43% in terms of revenue" of DRAM globally [10]. The other two — **SK Hynix (000660 KS)** and **Micron (MU)** — are direct competitors, but in HBM specifically Samsung trails Hynix (where "70% of Hynix's HBM supply is going to Nvidia").

### D. Foundry / Packaging Partners & EDA / IP Ecosystem

- Samsung Foundry openly co-develops with **EDA partners and OSAT** firms via its Multi-Die Integration Alliance (MDI); ~20 ecosystem companies are involved, including direct competitors who have joined.
- **UCIe consortium** — Samsung chairs the chiplet interoperability standard with **Intel** and others as founding partners.

### E. Other Strategic Suppliers / Partners

- **ABB** — partnership counterparty named on multiple regional projects (NEOM in Saudi Arabia, Sweden rural development) — supports Samsung's network/infrastructure rollouts.
- **Acora, Fibaro** — channel/installation partners for Samsung's home-appliance and smart-home retail expansion.

---

## 3. Concentration & Strategic Read-Through

- **Customer concentration risk** is most acute in HBM: ~43% of revenue tied to AMD + NVIDIA combined, with the NVIDIA HBM3E 12-Hi approval still pending as of CLSA's June 2025 note [1][2]. Any delay materially shifts SEC's memory P&L versus Hynix.
- **Supplier concentration** on the materials side is structurally Korea-heavy (Hansol Chemical, Soulbrain, Dongjin) plus Japanese specialty chemicals (Resonac, Tosoh, Zeon, Showa Denko successor). For equipment, ASML (EUV monopoly), AMAT, Lam, TEL, KLA, BESI, and Lasertec are the irreplaceable foreign vendors [9].
- **Foundry customer pipeline** hinges on ASIC/hyperscaler wins (Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Google as design partners [8]) plus winning back HPC share from TSMC at 3nm/2nm GAA nodes — currently a loss-making segment per the 2Q25 note [3].

---
**Sources**
[1] Samsung Electronics - O-PF (Weak 2Q but valuation support) — CLSA (11 Jun 2025) — Figure 17: SEC HBM revenue by customer (2025CL) — 607961798LinqAlpha.PDF
[2] Samsung Electronics - O-PF (Weak 2Q but valuation support) — CLSA (11 Jun 2025) — HBM product qualifications taking longer — 607961798LinqAlpha.PDF
[3] Samsung Electronics - O-PF (Weak 2Q but valuation support) — CLSA (11 Jun 2025) — Investment thesis — 607961798LinqAlpha.PDF
[4] Hansol Chemical - O-PF (Accelerating growth) — CLSA (10 Jun 2025) — Valuation details — 607961652LinqAlpha.PDF
[5] Hansol Chemical - O-PF (Accelerating growth) — CLSA (10 Jun 2025) — Precursors and H2O2 set to see a nice 2Q25 OP beat — 607961652LinqAlpha.PDF
[6] Samsung Electronics - O-PF — CLSA (11 Jun 2025) — Companies mentioned table — 607961798LinqAlpha.PDF
[7] Samsung Electronics - O-PF — CLSA (11 Jun 2025) — Revenue mix by business — 607961798LinqAlpha.PDF
[8] Samsung Electronics Investors Forum 2023 — earnings_call transcript (Nov 2023)
[9] Samsung Electronics — Special Call earnings_call transcript — Equipment supplier ecosystem commentary
[10] Samsung Electronics — Special Call earnings_call transcript — DRAM consolidation / Samsung 43% revenue share

## Citations

- [8] **Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Presents at Samsung Electronics Investors Forum 2023, Nov-13-2023 01:00 PM** · external
- [9] **Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Special Call** · external
- [10] **Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Special Call** · external

