According to a report by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA), Samsung Electronics (三星電子) plans to move the operational start date of its wafer fab in Yongin, south of Seoul, from the originally planned 2030–2031 window to 2029. CNA attributes the acceleration to the need to meet artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure's demand for memory chips, which the report describes as surging. [原文支持, cna.com.tw]
Citing people familiar with the matter, CNA reports that Samsung intends to build six semiconductor fabs within the Yongin industrial complex in total, with one of them currently scheduled to begin operations in 2029. [原文支持, cna.com.tw] The same CNA report was also carried by udn.com, which corroborates both the 2029 target and the six-fab plan. [原文支持, udn.com]
Per Yonhap, as cited by CNA, the schedule change stems from the South Korean government accelerating development of the Yongin National Industrial Complex — described in the report as a national-level strategic project intended to serve as Samsung's next-generation semiconductor manufacturing base. [原文支持, cna.com.tw] That government-side acceleration is the stated reason behind moving Samsung's first Yongin fab's start date from 2030–2031 up to 2029. [原文支持, cna.com.tw]
CNA reports that Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Yonhap was the outlet that first reported the plan change, one day before CNA's own report. [原文支持, cna.com.tw] Beyond that acknowledgment of no comment, the article contains no on-the-record confirmation or denial from Samsung itself regarding the revised 2029 timeline described elsewhere in the same report. [原文支持, cna.com.tw]
CNA reports that Samsung said last month, under its giga-scale investment plan, that it would invest 2,030 trillion Korean won (roughly NT$43.3 trillion) in its Pyeongtaek and Yongin semiconductor complexes. [原文支持, cna.com.tw] Separately, the company plans to invest an additional 400 trillion won to build two entirely new chip fabs in Gwangju, a city 270 kilometers south of Seoul. [原文支持, cna.com.tw] These same figures were also reported by udn.com. [原文支持, udn.com]
| Location | Investment (KRW) | Approx. NT$ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pyeongtaek & Yongin complexes | 2,030 trillion won | ~NT$43.3 trillion | Part of Samsung's giga-scale investment plan |
| Gwangju (270 km south of Seoul) | 400 trillion won | Not stated in evidence | Two new chip fabs |
An unnamed industry source quoted by CNA said: "the earlier start of the first fab will allow Samsung to respond more quickly to increasingly rising global demand for AI chips." [原文支持, cna.com.tw] That comment refers specifically to the first of the six planned Yongin fabs — the one now targeted for 2029 operation instead of 2030–2031. [原文支持, cna.com.tw]
The pieces reported here line up along a single timeline: Samsung's giga-scale investment plan for Pyeongtaek, Yongin, and Gwangju — announced the month before, per CNA — is now being paired with a schedule that pulls the first of six planned Yongin fabs forward from 2030–2031 to 2029. The stated driver, per Yonhap as relayed by CNA, is the South Korean government's own acceleration of the Yongin National Industrial Complex, not a Samsung announcement — the company itself did not respond to Reuters' request for comment, and Yonhap broke the story first. That gap between an unconfirmed government-linked report and Samsung's silence is itself part of what CNA's article documents, alongside the investment figures Samsung had already disclosed the prior month.
No. According to CNA, Samsung did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The plan change was first reported by Yonhap, one day ahead of CNA's own report.
Per CNA, Samsung said last month it would invest 2,030 trillion Korean won (about NT$43.3 trillion) in the Pyeongtaek and Yongin complexes, plus an additional 400 trillion won for two new chip fabs in Gwangju, 270 km south of Seoul.
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