Samsung to invest $355 billion over next 5 years on chips, emerging tech

Samsung will invest 450 trillion won, amounting to approximately $355 billion over a period of five years till 2026 on areas including semiconductors, biopharmaceutical, and emerging technologies.

The company will spend 80 per cent of the investment or 360 trillion won for research and development, and skilling talent in South Korea, mainly in advanced chipmaking, the company said.

The investment numbers mark an increase of over 30 per cent from the last five-year period, where the company spent 330 trillion won, aiming to drive a long-term growth.

The spending strategy would bring “long-term growth in strategic businesses and help strengthen the global industrial ecosystem of crucial technology,” Samsung said in a statement.

The company’s new investment strategy is a draw up from the one announced last year in which it announced investments of 240 trillion won for three years on the strategic sectors.

Spending on creating jobs has been increasing over the previous year. The company aims to generate 80,000 jobs by 2026, which is double the number pegged last year of generating 40,000 jobs between 2021 and 2023.

In semiconductors, Samsung said that it will keep on investing in memory chips and bolster research on new materials and chip architecture. The investment will also be aimed at logic chips such as application processors and image sensors.

In foundry, or contract chip production, Samsung plans to produce 3 nanometer nodes on a mass scale.

Samsung will also invest heavily on biopharmaceuticals, with its contract manufacturing affiliates Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis.

The company’s spending plan on the other strategic sectors includes 5G, 6G and Artificial Intelligence as well.

The announcement also comes on the aftermath of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Samsung’s chip plant at Pyeongtaek in South Korea last week during his Asia tour.

Last year, Samsung said that it plans to invest $17 billion to build a new chip plant in Taylor, Texas.

The Taylor factory is expected to serve as an advanced chip-making facility for Samsung’s contract manufacturing operations that produces semiconductors designed by other firms.