DEEP RESEARCH · DONGJIN SEMICHEM

Exynos 2600 and Dongjin Semichem's Strategic Symbiosis

A review of Samsung SF2, EUV PR, HPB packaging materials, and the Texas supply chain.

Date: 2025-12-27 · 2nm foundry/semiconductor materials lens · Naver Blog source and references

0. Bottom line first

1. SF2: the yield battle

Exynos 2600, designed by Samsung System LSI and manufactured by Samsung Foundry, is framed by the source as the first large-scale production test for Samsung's 2nm GAA process, SF2. Restoring the in-house AP also has strategic meaning because it could reduce Qualcomm dependence and AP purchasing costs that exceeded KRW 11tn in 2023.

2. More EUV layers and Dongjin's leverage

Official fact: The source says Samsung's 2nm SF2 targets 12% higher performance, 25% better power efficiency, and 5% area reduction versus second-generation 3nm SF3.

The source estimates about 20 EUV mask layers for 3nm and roughly 26 layers for 2nm, about 30% more. More layers increase consumption of EUV PR, rinse chemicals, pellicles, and potentially more material through rework.

3. HPB and packaging-material expansion

The source presents HPB, or Heat Path Block, as Exynos 2600's differentiator. As 2nm scaling shrinks die size while CPU performance rises 39% and NPU performance rises 113%, heat density becomes a bigger problem. HPB uses a copper heat block and DRAM repositioning to pull heat away from the AP core.

Interpretation: Dongjin's history in organic insulating films, encapsulation materials, and CNT/graphene heat-dissipation composites supports the possibility of moving from front-end materials into packaging materials. Actual supply still needs customer qualification and production confirmation.

4. Texas supply chain: Taylor-Killeen corridor

Samsung is investing more than USD 17bn in its Taylor, Texas fab, and the source mentions plans for 2nm and 4nm chip production from 2026. Dongjin is building a semiconductor-material base in Killeen, about one hour from Taylor, with investment described as about USD 110mn, or more than KRW 150bn.

• DSM Semichem is described as having completed a high-purity sulfuric-acid plant in Plainview, Texas with 24,000 tons of annual capacity.
• Local production can reduce logistics cost and support low-temperature distribution and JIT supply for yield stability.
• Domestic Hwaseong and Balan sites remain R&D and initial production hubs for EUV PR.

5. Governance reshaping and revenue mix

The source interprets the October 2025 decision to spin off the foaming-agent business into a new entity tentatively called Dongjin Inochem as a move to separate a low-growth business and define the surviving Dongjin Semichem as an advanced semiconductor and battery-materials company. Semiconductor-materials revenue was about 46.6% in 2023 and rose to 48.9% in Q1 2024, while Samsung Electronics is presented as the largest customer at about 40-42% of total revenue.

6. Conclusion

My conclusion is that Dongjin should be viewed as a materials partner in Samsung's 2nm ecosystem. The key monitoring points are Samsung's 2nm yield improvement pace, actual Exynos 2600 adoption, EUV PR qualification, utilization at Texas material facilities, and replacement customers for CNT conductive-material risk linked to Northvolt.