Samsung reveals plans for $15bn chip research center to break semiconductor scaling barriers

Samsung announced on Friday that it will spend roughly $15 billion on building a new chip research complex in South Korea by 2028, as the tech giant seeks to ease restraints on semiconductor scaling.

Casting light on the complex’s deliverables, Samsung said the new chip facility will be built at the company's Giheung campus to foster research into new technologies, including novel wafer fabrication processes for memory and system semiconductors.

Upon completion, the South Korean facility, which will stretch over 109,000 square meters at Giheung, will further strengthen the tech giant’s foothold in the semiconductor industry.

The Giheung campus also hosted Samsung's 1992 development of the world's first 64MB DRAM, which led the company to scoop the top spot among chip manufacturers the following year.

"We are taking on a new challenge from the very location where we broke ground 40 years ago to build our first semiconductor plant," said Jay Y Lee, Samsung vice chairman.

"If we hadn't made bold R&D investments for next-generation products and in products that came after that, there would be no semiconductor business for Samsung today. We need to continue our tradition of investing preemptively and emphasizing technology," added Lee.

As the global chip shortage continues to stress the big tech, Samsung is continuing to benefit from inflation resulting from the deficit. Increasing semiconductor prices helped Samsung achieve its highest quarterly profit since 2018, according to an earnings guidance published by the company late last year.

Additionally, Samsung announced in July that it would build 11 new chip manufacturing facilities in Texas’ Austin and Taylor, with an investment of $191.2 billion.