Samsung recently announced plans to build a new, cutting-edge wafer fab—a $14.7 billion investment for the company that will be located in Pyeongtaek, a city south of Seoul. The new fab, slated to begin production in 2H17, will add to Samsung’s current impressive compilation of wafer fabs (Figure 1) as it seeks to maintain its leading position in memory IC sales and expand its system leadership beyond smartphones, Smart TVs, and tablets. Investing large is not new to Samsung—it has allocated at least $10 billion per year on semiconductor capital expenditures since 2010 (Figure 2), and has accounted for 17-21% of total industry capital expenditures each year since then.
Figure 1
Samsung did not identify specifically which chips will be manufactured at the new fab, but given its current market strength in smartphones, Smart TVs, and tablet PCs, it is reasonable to believe it will set up operations to produce logic and memory devices—DRAM, flash memory (including perhaps its new 3D V-NAND flash memory), and application processors—that are the brains and storage in these systems. In addition, the growing adoption rate for solid-state drives (SSDs) and the potential growth and development of the Internet of Things are emerging market segments that Samsung believes will fuel demand for its memory and logic chips in the coming years.
Samsung is also likely to give strong consideration to foundry operations at the new fab. It is well known that Samsung lost the Apple A8 processor business to TSMC. Yet despite losing a $2 billion foundry customer, foundry work remains an important segment for Samsung, and the company is committed to growing this business. Its leading-edge manufacturing capabilities make it an attractive option for several fabless and fab-lite logic IC companies.
The decision by Samsung to build a new, large wafer fab comes at a time when the semiconductor industry is facing several major hurdles. These include the transition to 450mm wafers and EUV lithography, the physical limitations of manufacturing existing DRAM and flash memory designs using sub 10nm process technology, and the possible transition to alternative memories. On one hand, the company faces some big decisions on which way to proceed, but investing now assures Samsung will be at the leading edge in manufacturing and delivering advanced devices at a competitive cost.
Figure 2
Report Details: Strategic Reviews and The McClean Report 2014
IC Insights’ Strategic Reviews online database provides detailed profiles of more than 200 of the world’s established and emerging IC companies. Each company profile includes an overview of business strategies, current and historical financial data (including capital expenditures), a listing of products and services offered, key management personnel and details about joint ventures and global alliances. In addition, a searchable wafer fab database provides locations, capacity, and manufacturing processes employed, and/or a listing of foundries used, by each company. Updated throughout the year, Strategic Reviews is priced at $3,295 for an individual user password. A multi-user worldwide corporate license is available for $5,295.
Additional information about semiconductor sales leaders and their capital expenditures is provided in the 2014 edition of IC Insights’ flagship report, The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry. This highly regarded service features more than 900 pages and more than 400 tables and graphs that provide the user with a thorough analysis of IC industry trends throughout the year. A subscription to The McClean Report includes free monthly updates from March through November (including a 250+ page Mid-Year Update), and free access to subscriber-only webinars throughout the year. An individual-user license to the 2014 edition of The McClean Report is priced at $3,490 and includes an Internet access password. A multi-user worldwide corporate license is available for $6,490.
