Samsung To Build 5 SoKor Chip Plants Worth $230-B

Samsung Electronics said that it will build five semiconductor plants in what the government said was a 300 trillion won ($230 billion) investment over the next 20 years, part of the global race to secure supply chains in the chip industry, Kim Jaewon reported for Nikkei Asia.

Photo Insert: Some of the five Samsung plants will be for foundry chipmaking -- or making chips for outside clients.

A Samsung spokesman confirmed some of the five plants will be for foundry chipmaking -- or making chips for outside clients. The government said the new plants will be established in Yongin, south of Seoul, and the investment would be concluded by 2042.

"The mega-cluster will be the key base of our semiconductor ecosystem," the government said in a statement. It said that to "leap forward as a leading country in the middle of fierce global competition over advanced industries" is a key issue.

The announcement comes as the US and Japan are attracting semiconductor makers to invest in their countries by offering them subsidies and taxes breaks. The US Chips and Science Act provides $52.7 billion for American semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development.

Samsung itself has aggressively invested in the US, announcing in late 2021 a plan to invest $17 billion to build foundry chip production lines in Texas, responding to President Joe Biden's push to bring more semiconductor manufacturing onshore.

The company targeted the second half of 2024 for the facility to be operational. Samsung already runs a foundry chip factory in the state.

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