[Edaily Kong Chi-Yu Reporter Kim Yu-seong] “Samsung’s dream took root, grew, and bore fruit in Chungcheong.” (Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of SamsungElectronics)

"Building on our achievements to date, we will develop the Chungcheong region into a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) innovation." (Kwak No-jeong, President of SK hynix)

SamsungElectroMechanics, a Samsung Group component affiliate, has made its largest-ever investment since its establishment in Dong-myeon, Yeongi-gun, South Chungcheong Province, when it entered the printed circuit board (PCB) business in 1990. This factory, which began as the Jochiwon Plant, is the origin of SamsungElectroMechanics’ Sejong Plant, which produces package substrates—a core component of semiconductors. Samsung has since established SamsungElectronics’ Onyang and Cheonan plants, Samsung Display’s Cheonan and Asan plants, and SAMSUNG SDI CO.,LTD.’s Cheonan plant, operating the Chungcheong region as a strategic hub for materials and components.

The SK hynix Cheongju Complex traces its origins to 1988, when Goldstar Semiconductor (LG Corp.) broke ground at the Cheongju Industrial Complex. It has since established itself as a hub encompassing not only SK hynix’s NAND flash but also next-generation DRAM memory and advanced packaging.

Samsung Group and SK Group announced plans to develop the Chungcheong region into a global hub for semiconductors, materials, and components through large-scale investments exceeding 300 trillion won. As the paradigm shifts toward the AI era, demand for core components—including not only semiconductors but also displays and batteries—is growing explosively. The two groups plan to rapidly establish a manufacturing hub with a commanding lead by investing in their production bases in Chungcheong, where they have been established for over 30 years.

Chairman Lee Jae-yong said on the 2nd at the “Public Briefing on the Vision for the Development of High-Tech Industries in the Chungcheong Region,” presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at Samsung Display’s Asan Second Campus, “About 30 years ago, Asan was a vast vineyard, but now it is home to the world’s largest display complex. The Onyang Campus, which was once mostly rice paddies and fields, is transitioning from a center for general-purpose semiconductor back-end processes to a global state-of-the-art high-bandwidth memory (HBM) fab.”

Chairman Lee said, “In Chungcheong, we have witnessed a virtuous cycle in which proactive investment drives corporate growth, and that growth leads to the development of not only the region but the entire nation.” Samsung announced on the same day that it would invest a total of 140 trillion won in the Chungcheong region across sectors including semiconductors, displays, batteries, and printed circuit boards.

SamsungElectronics will invest 56 trillion won in its Onyang and Cheonan HBM fabs. SamsungElectronics’ Onyang and Cheonan sites are leading back-end facilities where semiconductor packaging and testing take place. SamsungElectronics plans to transform its existing back-end factories—which primarily handle general-purpose DRAM—into facilities focused on HBM packaging. To this end, it will establish five HBM fab lines in Onyang. The Cheonan site will also expand its HBM-compatible equipment to meet the packaging demands of global tech giants.

Samsung Display plans to expand its high-value-added organic light-emitting diode (OLED) production lines at its Asan facility to serve smartphones, IT devices, extended reality (XR), humanoid robots, and wearables. The company plans to invest a total of 67 trillion won to complete a state-of-the-art display cluster.

SAMSUNG SDI CO.,LTD. will invest 9 trillion won in its Cheonan battery mother line to build a system for validating next-generation battery technologies. This move is significant because it establishes a hub in Chungcheong to proactively validate such technologies—including all-solid-state batteries—at a time when development of next-generation technologies to support physical AI is in full swing. SamsungElectroMechanics plans to invest 8 trillion won in its Sejong plant to create a manufacturing hub for high-performance package substrates for AI servers.

SK hynix will invest 80 trillion won in its new M17 NAND plant in Cheongju. Construction is set to begin next year, with completion targeted for the first half of 2029. President Kwak No-jeong explained the rationale for the expansion, stating, “As AI services gain full-scale traction, demand for enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) and NAND is growing explosively,” and added, “With the adoption of physical AI, the application areas and demand for NAND will expand even further in the future.” In addition, to strengthen its advanced packaging capabilities, the company will invest 20 trillion won in the Cheongju Package & Test (P&T) Plant No. 7, scheduled for completion by the end of next year. At the SK Group level, 70 trillion won will be invested to build a 1-gigawatt (GW) AI data center.

Celltrion is pursuing investments totaling approximately 2 trillion won in biopharmaceutical production facilities and other areas. Yoo Young-ho, President of Celltrion Pharm Inc., said, “In the first phase, we will secure future growth engines to supply high-quality pharmaceuticals to the global market through a 1 trillion won investment in pre-filled syringe (PFS) production facilities,” adding, “Following that, we will proceed with a second-phase investment of 1 trillion won to ensure sustained growth.”

The total investment announced by Samsung, SK, Naver, Celltrion, and others in the Chungcheong region amounts to 392 trillion won. President Lee Jae-myung commented, “On behalf of the people, I express my gratitude for this bold decision.” He added, “These investment plans do not merely signify the expansion of corporate production facilities into the Chungcheong region,” and assessed them as “a pledge of trust to completely transform the paradigm of growth and move toward a better future, as well as a bold declaration of the Republic of Korea’s potential.”