As part of an aggressive push by the country to take the lead in crucial technologies, Samsung Electronics announced on Wednesday that it plans to invest 300 trillion Korean won ($228 billion) in a new semiconductor complex in South Korea, which the government claims will be the largest in the world.
A Samsung representative told CNBC that the investment will take place over the years up to 2042. To promote development in important areas, the South Korean government is attempting to bring together its largest technology corporations.
The private sector will invest 550 trillion won by 2026, according to the government, on things like electric cars, chips, screens, and batteries.
Yet semiconductors, which are important parts of everything from cellphones to cars, are the main emphasis since they have grown to be a geopolitical hotspot.
The sweeping move by South Korea is seen as a means of catching up to the United States’ own substantial semiconductor spending.
South Korean President Statement on Chip Manufacturing Factory
“President Yoon Suk-yeol said, while it’s important for a high-tech industry such as semiconductors to grow through a mid-to-longer term plan, we must swiftly push ahead with these plans as if it’s a matter of life and death, given the current situation of global competition,” Yoon’s spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a briefing.
The new 300 trillion won semiconductor plant that Samsung is constructing will be located not far from Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
The goal of South Korea’s government is to establish a “semiconductor mega cluster” by linking Samsung’s local chip manufacturing facilities to those of other businesses.
From chip design to production, the goal is to connect diverse elements of the semiconductor supply chain.
“In selecting the new locations, we’ve taken into consideration the synergy effect that could be seen from existing semiconductor clusters,” Lee Chang-yang, South Korea’s trade, industry and energy minister, said.
The South Korean government announced that five chip manufacturing facilities would be built by private enterprises in the cluster.
The largest manufacturer of memory chips is Samsung. These are semiconductors that are used in servers and laptops, among other things. Second-largest memory chip producer SK Hynix is likewise based in South Korea.
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