Samsung Electronics' foundry business in South Korea is at a critical turning point, with its capacity utilization rate expected to reach 100% in the second half of this year, driven by demand for HBM base chips and orders from major US tech clients. The current capacity utilization rate is estimated to be in the 70% to 80% range. Market analysts predict that the business will turn profitable as early as the third quarter and no later than the fourth quarter, ending a period of losses that has plagued it for over a year. However, the industry generally believes that converting potential clients into large-scale mass production contracts hinges on the 2nm process yield stabilizing above 70%, which is currently estimated to be in the 60% range.