Samsung is expanding its semiconductor complex in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, as AI accelerators increase demand for advanced memory. Three fabrication plants already operate at the site, a fourth is coming online, and construction of a fifth has restarted.
Work on the fifth plant stopped during a memory-market slump in 2024. The AI boom reversed that decision because graphics processors used to train and run large models depend on stacks of high-bandwidth memory packaged close to the processor.
The Pyeongtaek campus covers roughly the area of New York’s Central Park and employs thousands of construction workers as well as Samsung engineers. The company expects memory demand to keep climbing through 2028.
The expansion is also a competitive response. South Korean rival SK Hynix has taken the lead in high-bandwidth memory used with Nvidia accelerators, while Taiwan’s TSMC dominates contract manufacturing for chips designed by other companies. Samsung’s new capacity is an attempt to regain ground, but new factories take time to build and do not by themselves guarantee that customers will qualify their most advanced products.