Samsung to invest $19 billion in chip, display plants

Samsung Electronics said it will invest 21.4 trillion won (USD 19 billion) in the next four years in its memory chip and display plants in South Korea.

The South Korean company's announcement comes as the global memory chip industry enjoys a massive boom thanks to a surge in demand for microchips. Global tech companies have been increasing servers and data centers to handle more data from mobile devices and auto vehicles and also on expectations that adoption of artificial intelligence would create even more demand for handling data.

Samsung said by 2021, it will spend an additional 14.4 trillion won (USD 12.5 billion) to increase the capacity in its memory chip factory in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, which began operating in the day.

Samsung said the 15.6 trillion won (USD 13.6 billion) chip plant, which broke ground two years ago, is one of the largest semiconductor production lines in the world. Samsung said will spend 6 trillion won (USD 5.2 billion) in its memory chip cluster in Hwaseong as well. Another 1 trillion won (USD 871 million) will be spent on its display factory in Asan, the company said.

Samsung added that it is considering adding more semiconductor production lines in its factory in Xi'an, China.