À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Samsung Electronics Co. will break ground for a new foundry in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, on Friday with an aim to start mass-producing below-7 nanometer chips in the second half next year and make headway in the race for customized computer chips to power smart and robotics devices.
The world¡¯s largest foundry player Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has begun testing mass production of 7-nanometer micro chips this year with a plan to roll out prototypes for Taiwan¡¯s fabless semiconductor firm MediaTek in the second quarter. It is scheduled to start mass producing the chips in full gear early next year.
Samsung Electronics, world¡¯s No.1 chipmaker but fourth in pure-play foundry category, is injecting 6 trillion won ($5.6 billion) to upscale foundry capacity.
Foundry is a business of manufacturing and packaging chips upon client orders, and global foundry players are in strong competition to produce chips on next-generation nanometer technology, in which smaller number represents higher level of generation and more powerful chips.
Samsung¡¯s new foundry will be equipped with more than 10 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure devices that are essential in processing chips below 7 nanometers. Since a EUV device costs roughly 150 billion won per unit, the chipmaker will be expensing between 3 trillion and 4 trillion won solely for purchasing the devices plus some other equipment. The company plans to announce a roadmap for 6-nanometer chip soon.
Meanwhile, the Korean tech giant expects its new fab would contribute 15.3 trillion won to the national economy and hire 53,000 people, according to a company official.
Shares of Samsung Electronics ended Tuesday down 2.03 percent at 2,370,000 won.
By Lee Dong-in and Cho Jeehyun
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]