Samsung plans to increase the production capacity of the P3 plant in Pyeongtaek next year
Samsung, one of the world’s largest chipmakers, is planning to expand its chip production capacity next year. This year, due to factors such as the global economic downturn, many manufacturers have delayed their capacity expansion plans, but Samsung does not seem to stop.
According to MoneyControl, Samsung plans to expand production at its P3 plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, estimated to increase by about 10%, which is Samsung’s largest chip manufacturing plant. Considering that competitors are generally reducing investment, the economy in many parts of the world is slowing down and demand is declining, Samsung’s move is considered to be against the trend.
Image: Samsung
Samsung’s expansion plans include increasing capacity for 12-inch wafers, likely for DRAM chips. At the same time, it will also increase the production capacity of 4nm chips, which is aimed at the needs of Samsung’s foundry customers. It is expected that at least 10 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines will be added in 2023.
As of the second quarter of this year, Samsung accounted for 43.5% of the DRAM chip market share, followed by SK Hynix with a market share of 27.4%, while Micron of the United States accounted for about 24.5%. The difference is that Micron has recently adjusted its investment plan for 2023. Next year, it will reduce from $12 billion in 2022 to $7 billion to US$7.5 billion, and lay off 10% of its employees.
Currently, Tesla’s HW 3.0 chip is manufactured by Samsung, using a 14nm process, and released in 2019. However, it has recently been reported that Tesla has switched to TSMC and placed a large order to manufacture new assisted driving chips using a 4nm process. It is rumored that this order will even make Tesla one of TSMC’s seven major customers next year, possibly behind Apple, MediaTek, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Nvidia, which is a big blow to Samsung.
