Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) will bring its fourth plant (P4) at the Pyeongtaek campus into full operation within the year, having invested 50 trillion won to build it as part of an effort to expand its presence in the artificial intelligence (AI) memory market. The company plans to use "temporary use approval" to advance P4's full operation by about six months ahead of the original schedule. The strategy is to cement the technological edge of HBM4, the world's first sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to ship in mass production, into a "manufacturing super-gap" backed by overwhelming production capacity.
According to industry sources Tuesday, Samsung Electronics plans to operate P4's upper (Ph4) line in July and lower (Ph2) line in November, each after receiving temporary use approval. Last month, Samsung C&T's construction division won the P4 lower-section finishing work for 1.3792 trillion won, accelerating the final processes. P4, which will house four clean rooms across two floors, is currently operating at only half capacity.
Temporary use involves obtaining approval for specific zones before completion to bring in semiconductor equipment early. Through this, the company plans to shorten the timing of P4's full operation by about half a year compared with before. If P4, which will receive about 50 trillion won in a single fab, comes online sequentially within the year, Samsung Electronics' earnings, riding the semiconductor super-cycle, are expected to improve further.
The fifth plant (P5) at Pyeongtaek, which began structural work last November, entered main construction this month, also accelerating its building pace. P5, equipped with six clean rooms across three floors, is a mammoth-class fab with total investment expected to exceed 80 trillion won. The project got on track as Samsung C&T (2.8932 trillion won) and Samsung E&A (1.8790 trillion won) recently signed large-scale structural and building construction contracts with Samsung Electronics.
Samsung is accelerating its pursuit of a "manufacturing super-gap" following its technological lead in order to respond in a timely manner to surging demand for memory chips such as HBM and NAND, including for Nvidia's next-generation AI chip "Vera Rubin," which goes into mass production in the second half. Samsung Electronics plans about 70 trillion won in facility investment this year, with a significant portion allocated to the Pyeongtaek campus.
Jun Young-hyun, Samsung Electronics CEO and vice chairman, recently told shareholders, "We will continue facility investment and research and development (R&D) investment to secure future technologies in response to expanding AI demand."
