Samsung Electronics is quickly shifting its semiconductor foundry strategy from mass production to customization. Samsung Electronics is planning to actively diversify the mobile application processor (AP) sales structure, which is now overly dependent on the wireless business division and Apple. 
The performance of the foundry business was worse than expected last year, and it is not easy to recruit large customers this year. Its operating ratio went down sharply because the foundry business did not supply APs for the Galaxy S4 as much as it desired last year, and the quantity of A6 AP for the Apple iPhone 5S was less than expected. In 2012, the sales revenue rose by 57% over the previous year, but by only 15% last year. As Qualcomm and MediaTek, which Samsung Electronics worked hard to win, chose TSMC and global foundries, it is not easy to increase sales with the existing strategy
It is true that Samsung Electronics is less capable of responding to multiple items than professional foundries,” said an industry insider. “However, Samsung Electronics will be able to overcome it to a certain extent with its experience of directly manufacturing CMOS image sensors and power management integrated circuits (PMIC).”