Samsung expands foundry capacity in Pyeongtaek - new 5nm EUV facility

Samsung announced it's expanding its foundry production capacity at its Pyeongtaek product line in South Korea. Citing growing demand for cutting-edge EUV process technology, the South Korean electronics giant started constructing the new production facility earlier this month. It will become the firm's core manufacturing base for 5G, HPC and AI solutions with 5nm EUV technology. Volume production is expected in the second half of 2021.

It will be interesting to see who will be the clients of this new facility. So far, Samsung has struggled to lure customers away from TSMC. The latter is seen as a safer option with a known history to deliver. Samsung has seen some wins here and there, but it's rumored that low pricing was the primary factor at play in those situations.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced plans to boost its foundry capacity at the company’s new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, to meet growing global demand for cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) solutions.

The new foundry line, which will focus on EUV-based 5 nanometer (nm) and below process technology, has just commenced construction this month and is expected to be in full operation in the second half of 2021. It will play a pivotal role as Samsung aims to expand the use of state-of-the-art process technologies across a myriad of current and next generation applications, including 5G, high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI).

“This new production facility will expand Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities for sub-5nm process and enable us to rapidly respond to the increasing demand for EUV-based solutions,” said Dr. ES Jung, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “We remain committed to addressing the needs of our customers through active investments and recruitment of talents. This will enable us to continue to break new ground while driving robust growth for Samsung’s foundry business.”

Following the initial mass production of the EUV-based 7nm process in early 2019, Samsung recently added a new EUV-dedicated V1 line in Hwaseong, Korea, to its global foundry network. With the new Pyeongtaek facility starting full operation in 2021, Samsung’s foundry capacity based on EUV is expected to increase significantly.

Samsung is scheduled to start mass production of 5nm EUV process in the Hwaseong fab in the second half of this year.

With the addition of the Pyeongtaek fab, Samsung will have a total of seven foundry production lines located in South Korea and the United States, comprised of six 12-inch lines and one 8-inch line.