Samsung Electronics: 56 trillion won at Onyang campus — five HBM fab lines
Samsung Display: 67 trillion won at Asan campus — new line scale-up
Samsung SDI: 9 trillion won at Cheonan campus — next-generation battery verification facility
Samsung Electro-Mechanics: 8 trillion won at Sejong campus — AI package substrate expansion
Lee Jae-yong: 'Chungcheong will become a global hub for IT materials and components'
President Lee: 'Chairman Lee's decision will lead South Korea's leap forward'
Samsung Electronics announced plans to invest about 140 trillion won ($90.1 billion) in the Chungcheong region to develop it into a global hub for advanced materials and components. President Lee Jae Myung praised the announcement, saying it recalled the historic moment in 1983 when the late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull declared the company's entry into the semiconductor industry from Tokyo. He said he was confident that Chairman Lee Jae-yong's decision "will lead South Korea's advanced industry into a new leap forward."
Samsung unveiled the investment plan Wednesday at the Chungcheong Advanced Industry Development Vision public briefing, held at Samsung Display's Asan campus in South Chungcheong Province, pledging about 140 trillion won to build the region into a center for ultra-competitive materials and components.
The investment will focus on future growth engines — cutting-edge displays, HBM, next-generation batteries and AI server package substrates — and is expected to create 250,000 quality jobs.
Samsung had earlier announced plans to invest 425 trillion won in the Honam region, including two new semiconductor fabs in Gwangju, as part of a broader investment program totaling about 2,655 trillion won.
Investment is concentrated in each affiliate's core business. Samsung Display will invest about 67 trillion won at its Asan campus, expanding new production line construction from Asan Complex 1 into Complex 2. The plan calls for adding high-value-added OLED lines — covering smartphones and IT devices as well as extended reality, automotive, humanoid robot and wearable applications — to complete an advanced display cluster.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong said at the event that Chungcheong had demonstrated "a virtuous cycle in which preemptive investment drives corporate growth, and that growth extends to the region and the nation as a whole." He added that Chungcheong, at the heart of the Korean peninsula, "will achieve even greater growth as a global hub for IT materials and components."
Lee also said the outcome of the AI era "depends on the materials and components that power AI, which means it is directly tied to Samsung's own future." He pledged that Samsung would "devote every effort to making a great leap forward as an industrial powerhouse with an unassailable lead — at a time when the rules of the global economy are being shaken."
President Lee drew a parallel between Wednesday's announcement and the moment in 1983 when the late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull declared the company's entry into the semiconductor industry from Tokyo. "Just as that foresight made South Korea the semiconductor powerhouse it is today, I am convinced that Chairman Lee Jae-yong's decision will lead South Korea's advanced industry into a new leap forward," the president said.
He said the investment plan "is not simply about expanding corporate production facilities into the Chungcheong region — it is a commitment of trust and a bold declaration of South Korea's new possibilities, one that will completely transform the paradigm of growth and move us toward a better future."
The president also shrugged off suggestions that the investment had been made under government pressure. "Some people cling to the outdated notion that Chairman Lee Jae-yong was pressured into making this decision," Lee said. "But could you run a company that way, or attract world-class investment? It's simply not possible."
Samsung Electronics will invest about 56 trillion won to build five HBM fab lines at its Onyang campus, developing it into a next-generation HBM production base, while also expanding HBM-related equipment and modernizing production facilities at its Cheonan campus.
Samsung SDI will invest about 9 trillion won at its Cheonan campus to build a mother line for verifying next-generation battery technology. The strategy is to establish a foundation for rolling out proven production technology to overseas manufacturing bases, strengthening global competitiveness.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics will invest about 8 trillion won at its Sejong campus to expand production equipment for high-performance AI server package substrates, and will also increase investment in core component technology research and development and the cultivation of specialist talent.
Samsung Display President Lee Cheong, presenting the investment plans, said Samsung would "realize the future of South Korea's materials and components in Chungcheong," pledging to build an industrial ecosystem in the region covering displays, HBM, package substrates and batteries — the key materials and components of the AI era — "to become a solid backbone of the South Korean economy."
Lee also called on the government to extend the GTX rail line to Cheonan-Asan station at the earliest opportunity, and to provide incentive support so Samsung could compete on terms comparable to those offered by rival countries.
Industry observers said Samsung's large-scale investment is expected to have a positive impact on the competitiveness of South Korea's advanced manufacturing ecosystem, as the global industry restructuring centered on AI and semiconductors continues to accelerate.
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