Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Samsung to invest $46.2 billion over next decade for regional growth
Lee Jae-yong, right, chairman of Samsung Electronics, tours the facilities of Dong-A Plating in Busan, Nov. 8, 2022 as the plating company established a smart plant system with help from Samsung. Samsung Group said Wednesday that it will spend 60.1 trillion won for balanced regional growth to strengthen the ecosystem of local industries. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Electronics and other affiliates of Samsung Group will invest a total of 60.1 trillion won ($46.2 billion) over the next 10 years in the Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla regions to support the balanced regional development of local industries, the nation's top conglomerate said Wednesday.
“Samsung brought up the investment plan to contribute to strengthening the ecosystem of the local industries by enhancing the competitiveness of local companies, creating quality jobs in each region and promoting locally specialized industry items,” the group said.
To that end, the conglomerate will designate specialized projects for each region such as semiconductor packaging, high-quality displays, batteries, smartphones, electrical parts and materials.
By investing an additional 3.6 trillion won over 10 years, the group will also expand its support for small and medium-sized companies by conducting joint research projects with chip-designing firms and helping manufacturing companies establish smart factory systems that utilize digital technologies and reduce carbon emissions.
“In addition to the investment, Samsung plans to implement a sustainable win-win growth model in which the company and local economies grow together by providing support to local companies in terms of funds, technology and manpower,” the group said.
In the Chungcheong region, where North and South Chungcheong Provinces, Daejeon Metropolitan City and Sejong Special Self-Governing City are located, Samsung will build a semiconductor packaging complex, high-tech display cluster and a factory for next-generation batteries that the company calls a “mother factory.”
Samsung Electronics will strengthen R&D capabilities at its Cheonan and Onyang plants in the region for its chip packaging business. Samsung Display will build a display cluster in Asan to meet various demands for items such as small and medium-sized IT gadgets, large displays such as TVs and digital signage and new digital technologies including virtual reality (VR) and augmented (AR) devices.
Samsung SDI, the company's battery unit, will build a mother factory, which performs the role of a standard factory that proactively develops and applies advanced production technologies and spread them to overseas production plants, for solid-state batteries that use a solid electrolyte instead of liquid or gel electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries. Solid-state batteries are considered a game changer in the battery business as they have a higher energy density and lower the risk of fire.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics will expand its production base in Sejong to beef up its electronic circuit package substrate business.
Samsung plans to foster the southeastern region, where North and South Gyeongsang Provinces, Daegu Metropolitan City and Busan Metropolitan City are located, as a hub for next-generation multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), a mother factory for global smartphone manufacturing and high value-added shipbuilding.
The group plans to expand the production of smart home appliances in Gwangju Metropolitan City, North Jeolla Province and South Jeolla Province are located.