South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics has announced to invest $73.3 billion (about 110 trillion won) this year to strengthen its hold in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) semiconductor sector. This is the largest annual investment in the company’s history.
The investment will be spent on research and development (R&D) and expansion of production facilities, the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday (March 19). The amount is 21.7% higher than last year’s 90.4 trillion South Korean won and marks the first time the company’s annual investment has crossed the 100 trillion won mark.
The world’s largest memory chip maker aims to gain a leading position in the rapidly growing AI chip market. Due to increasing demand for AI technology globally, competition in the semiconductor industry has intensified. Samsung has also indicated that it will explore strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in sectors such as robotics, medical technology, automotive electronics and air conditioning solutions.
To increase production capacity, the company is carrying out efficiency improvement work at its P4 plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, and installing equipment for the P5 production line. In addition, a new chip manufacturing cluster is also being built in Yongin. As part of international expansion, Samsung is building a new foundry in Taylor city of Texas state of America, which is targeted to be operational by the end of this year.
However, amidst this huge investment, the company is also facing labor dissatisfaction. Samsung’s unionized employees have announced a strike after ongoing talks with management over wages and bonuses failed.
Employees are demanding that the cap on performance-based bonus be removed, salary should be increased by 7% and more transparency should be brought in the bonus determination process. The union said negotiations over wages for 2026, which had been going on for months, have ended without an agreement and accused management of ignoring their legitimate requests.
According to the plan, workers will demonstrate in Pyeongtaek on April 23, while the strike is proposed from May 21 to June 7. Overall, while on one hand Samsung is making record investments to achieve global leadership in the field of AI chips, on the other hand labor disputes may become a new challenge for the company.
Also read:
“Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Trump’s answer made Japan’s Prime Minister uncomfortable
Pakistan is also ahead of India in the World Happiness Report
Big blow to Qatar’s LNG capacity, 17% production halted for 5 years
Comments are closed.