Samsung to build world largest chip facility worth $228 billion

Samsung said Wednesday it plans to invest 300 trillion Korean won ($228 billion) in a new semiconductor complex in South Korea, which the government says will be the world’s largest, as part of an aggressive push by the country to take a lead in critical technologies. The investment will happen over the years to 2042, a Samsung spokesperson told CNBC. The South Korean government is looking to join together its biggest technology companies to spur development in key areas. The government said Wednesday that 550 trillion won will be invested by the private sector by 2026 in areas including chips, displays, batteries and electric vehicles. But the big focus is on semiconductors — critical components that go into everything from smartphones to cars — and that have increasingly become a geopolitical focal point. South Korea’s expansive move is seen as a way to catch up with the U.S.’s own aggressive chip investments. “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 chip complex Samsung is building will be just outside of the South Korean capital of Seoul. South Korea’s government aims to connect chip facilities in the area from Samsung to other companies to create a “semiconductor mega cluster.” The idea is to link up various parts of the semiconductor supply chain from chip design to manufacturing. “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 said that companies will build five chip manufacturing facilities in the cluster. Source: CNBC