Different Moves
According to TrendForce’s report released on February 10, Samsung Electronics is planning on a capital expenditure (CAPEX) of US$11.5 billion for its semiconductor business this year. The amount is about 15% less than last year’s.
Meanwhile, Intel is expected to increase its capital expenditure for the same purpose from US$7.3 billion to US$9.5 billion. US$2.5 billion of it is scheduled to be spent on the conversion of its IC manufacturing facilities in Dalian, China to NAND flash production facilities.
Intel has recently jumped into the 3D NAND flash industry, where Samsung Electronics has excelled, while continuing to make efforts in the data center market as well. It is also making a huge R&D investment in order not to lose its dominance in the CPU market.
In the meantime, TSMC is planning to increase its capital expenditure by 17% year on year to US$9.5 billion, too. A substantial sum of the money is likely to be spent on 10nm process conversion and US$3 billion of it is slated to go to its 12-inch wafer factory located in Nanjing.
“In spite of the year-on-year decrease, Samsung Electronics is still the most aggressive in terms of investment in semiconductor business,” the market research firm explained, adding, “Its investment in system LSI is expected to reach US$3.5 billion this year.”