Expand non-storage business, Samsung and other large investments in system semiconductors

Driving China on January 4, 2022, it is reported that Samsung Electronics and SK Group will reportedly make large-scale investments to expand the system semiconductor business.

According to reports, Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek P3 plant, which began construction in April 2021 and is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2023, will have a clean room the size of 25 football fields, making it the world's largest semiconductor factory. Like the Pyeongtaek P2 plant, which will start operations in 2021, it will be a comprehensive production base for memory and system semiconductors.

Samsung plans to build six semiconductor plants by 2030. The industry predicts that Samsung will start building the P4 plant as early as 2022. Samsung also plans to build a foundry in Taylor, Texas, USA, to produce state-of-the-art sub-5nm (sub-5-nm) system semiconductors. Samsung currently manufactures power semiconductors for IT equipment and 14nm semiconductors for communications at its foundry in Austin, Texas.

Samsung's total investment in 2020 is 39.5 trillion won, of which semiconductor investment is 32.9 trillion won. In the third quarter of 2021, KRW 33.5 trillion was invested, of which KRW 30 trillion was spent in the semiconductor business. Although Samsung said it will invest 240 trillion won in the next three years, some people predict that by 2022, it will invest more than 30 trillion won in non-memory areas such as foundry.

SK Group is entering the system semiconductor market through SK Hynix and SK Telecom. SK Telecom has decided to move its artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor business to a new company, Sapeon Korea ( tentatively ) that will be established on the 4th of next month.

In November 2020, SK Telecom launched the AI chip brand "Sapeon" and the first AI chip "Sapeon X220" in South Korea. Samsung and SK Hynix have partnered on semiconductor memory-related technologies and outsourced production to TSMC.

In October 2021, SK Hynix acquired key Foundry, a domestic foundry in South Korea, doubling its 8-inch foundry capacity. The industry predicts that the SK Group will combine system semiconductor design capabilities with newly acquired foundries and SK Hynix' memory business to start a fabless factory business.