Samsung to invest an extra $8 bln in China chip plant -media

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Co

12/12/2019 13:04

By Hyunjoo Jin and Josh HORWITZ
    SHANGHAI, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics will
increase investment at its chip factory in China by $8 billion
to boost production of NAND flash memory chips, Chinese media
reported on Tuesday.  
    The South Korean group's investment comes as the memory
market is expected to rebound next year because of limited
supplies and rising demand for fifth-generation devices and
networks.
    Samsung is the world's largest maker of NAND flash memory
chips, which can hold data permanently and are found in mobile
devices, memory cards, USB flash drives and solid-state drives.
    In 2017, Samsung announced that it would invest $7 billion
over three years in its Xi'an plant that produces NAND flash
memory chips.
    Those investment phases follow an earlier $10.8 billion
investment into a testing and packaging plant in Xi'an.
    Samsung declined to comment.
    Samsung's rivals in NAND flash memory include Korea's SK
Hynix  000660.KS , U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc  MU.O , and
Toshiba Corp  6502.T 
    Several Chinese companies have attempted to enter the memory
sector, though none has been successful enough to compete with
overseas rivals.
    This past autumn, Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC)
announced it would begin mass producing 64-layer 3D NAND chips,
the benchmark for most leading industry players.

 (Editing by Nick Macfie)
 ((Josh.Horwitz@thomsonreuters.com; +86 21 20830007;))