Samsung is accelerating the expansion of chip production capacity, and the new factory will be put into production in 2029
A spokesperson for Samsung Electronics confirmed that driven by the surge in demand for memory chips and the global AI infrastructure boom, the company plans to advance the start-up time of its first chip manufacturing plant in Yongin City, south of Seoul, to 2029, shortening the overall construction period by up to two years. The factory is part of South Korea's planned Yongin National Industrial Park and was originally scheduled to be put into operation in 2030-2031. The advancement of the production node will help Samsung respond more quickly to the rapidly growing market demand for global AI chips. This speeding up of factory construction is part of Samsung’s large-scale production expansion plan announced last month. The chip giant has pledged to invest 2030 trillion won (equivalent to US$1.35 trillion) to expand its two core semiconductor production bases in Pyeongtaek and Yongin; it also plans to spend 400 trillion won (equivalent to US$265 billion) to build two new wafer fabs in Gwangju, southwestern South Korea. The series of investments is the core support of South Korea’s “three major super industry projects”. The other two major projects are the robotics industry and AI data center construction.