Samsung to build chip facility in Japan, report claims

Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho District, southern Seoul [NEWS1]

A Japanese media outlet reports that Samsung Electronics will build a chip development facility in Japan.

Samsung Electronics will invest more than 30 billion yen ($221 million) to acquire a production plant in Yokohama to produce chips used for research and development, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun — also known as the Nikkei — on Sunday.

The report comes a week after the bilateral summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on May 7, when the two leaders agreed to strengthen semiconductor supply chains as a part of an effort to bolster economic cooperation.

The chipmaker plans to begin production by 2025 with hundreds of new employees and will be eligible for some 10 billion yen of Japanese government subsidies for semiconductor infrastructure, the Japanese newspaper said.

However, a Samsung spokesperson said that “nothing has been decided in regard to building a [semiconductor] fabrication factory in Japan or about subsidy benefits.”

Yokohama, 27 kilometers (17 miles) south of Tokyo, is located in Kanagawa prefecture, home to Samsung’s existing semiconductor research and development center. Industry sources say Samsung is building the fabrication facility to test its strengths in areas such as semiconductor packaging and non-memory materials, where Japanese chips have an edge.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk for the first time at Samsung Electronics Device Solutions America headquarters in Silicon Valley on Wednesday.

The meeting, which was reportedly requested by Tesla, signaled the possible start of extensive cooperation between Samsung and Tesla on future technologies such as a jointly developed chip for fully self-driving (FSD) cars and artificial intelligence (AI), industry sources say. Samsung’s U.S. subsidiary is where the chipmaker’s future chip technology on EVs, electronic parts and AI is presumed to be concentrated.

For carmakers like Tesla, which design their own FSD chips that function as their cars' brains, close cooperation with foundry companies such as Samsung Electronics is key for mass production.

Lee met with heads of global companies with close ties to Samsung’s future businesses — AI, EV, electronic parts, next-generation communication and bio — during his 22-day stay in the United States.

He met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a sushi restaurant in Silicon Valley on Wednesday. Nvidia is the manufacturer of graphics processor units for generative AI such as ChatGPT.

BY KO SUK-HYUN, KIM SU-MIN [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]