As global chipmakers cut back spending in 2023, reports emerged that Samsung would continue with its expansion plans.
Samsung Electronics intends to raise semiconductor chip production capacity in 2023 at its largest semiconductor plant in South Korea, amid forecasts of an economic slowdown, a South Korean newspaper reported late on Sunday.
Samsung plans to expand its P3 factory in Pyeongtaek by adding 12-inch wafers capacity for DRAM memory chips, the Seoul Economic Daily reported.
Additionally, the company intends to increase the plant’s 4nm chip capacity which will be built under the foundry contracts, the report said. Last week, Samsung announced the development of its 16GB dynamic RAM (DRAM) made using the industry’s first 12-nanometer (nm)-class process technology.
As per market research firms, Samsung holds a 43.5% market share in DRAM chips as of the second quarter of this year, followed by SK Hynix with 27.4% and Micron Technology with 24.5%. It plans to release the company’s fourth-quarter earnings estimates early next month.
In its fiscal third quarter, Samsung reported a fall in profit by more than 31% amid a slowdown in memory chip sales. Samsung’s semiconductor business saw a drop in earnings by almost 50% due to reduced demand for computer chips from electronics makers, server firms and cloud computing providers.
Despite that, Samsung executives told analysts that the company had no plans to scale back its chip manufacturing operations, as opposed to broader industry trends that have seen many chipmakers cut output.
