Samsung to invest $18.7 billion in South Korea chip facility

Samsung Electronics said on Monday that it will invest 15.6 trillion won (S$18.7 billion) to build a new semiconductor production facility in South Korea. -- PHOTO: AFP
Samsung Electronics said on Monday that it will invest 15.6 trillion won (S$18.7 billion) to build a new semiconductor production facility in South Korea. -- PHOTO: AFP

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics said on Monday that it will invest 15.6 trillion won (S$18.7 billion) to build a new semiconductor production facility in South Korea.

The world's biggest memory chip maker said in a statement that construction of the facility, to be built in Pyeongtaek, will begin in the first half of next year and be completed by the second half of 2017.

Samsung said the facility could produce memory chips or logic chips, but added it has not made a final decision on what will be made there. It did not offer further details such as expected production capacity.

The firm's chip business is expected by analysts to be a bright spot in what they forecast to be an otherwise poor set of results for the third quarter. The group's smartphone business, the world's largest, has been losing market share.

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