Hiring 15,000 Engineers for Non-memory Business
Samsung Electronics will invest a total of 133 trillion won (US$115 billion) by 2030 in research and development and production technologies in the system semiconductor sector and hire 15,000 professionals, the company announced on April 24.
Samsung declared that it aims to be No. 1 not only in memory semiconductors but also in non-memory chips including system semiconductors.
In addition, it plans to strengthen the non-memory sector's ecosystem through win-win cooperation with small and medium-sized semiconductor companies in Korea.
Samsung said it will invest 73 trillion won in R&D and 60 trillion won in state-of-the-art production infrastructure by 2030 in order to strengthen its competitive edge in system semiconductor business.
It is planning to contribute to fostering research manpower for system semiconductors through large-scale R&D investments, while also contributing to overall development of the nation’s system semiconductor ecosystem, including domestic equipment and materials companies, by expanding facilities.
In a related move, the company will increase production by using new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) production lines at Hwaseong Campus in Gyeonggi Province in the future, while continuing to invest in new lines.
In addition, Samsung said it plans to hire 15,000 engineers specializing in R&D and production of system semiconductors to strengthen its technological competitiveness.
If the plan is implemented as announced, Samsung will invest an annual average of 11 trillion won in R&D and facilities by 2030.This would increase production and generate an indirect employment inducement effect of 420,000 people.
Samsung also announced a strategy to develop an ecosystem for the system semiconductor industry at a national level by supporting Korean fabless companies that specialize in semiconductor design.
It will support its fabless customers in terms of design-related intellectual property (IP) such as interface IP, analog IP, and security IP so that they can strengthen their competitive edge in products and shorten the period of product development.
It will also provide them with its in-house design and defect analysis tools and software for effective product development.
It also plans to ease standards for consignment production of semiconductors to support small- and medium-sized fabless companies' small quantity production, and expand “multi-project wafers” programs, which are essential for these companies' development activities, to two to three times a year per manufacturing process.
In addition, the company said it will expand cooperation with Korean design houses in winning orders to establish a foundation for a cooperative ecosystem.
Industry watchers say Samsung Electronics' plan is in line with the government's emphasis this year on fostering non-memory industries to secure new growth engines.
In fact, President Moon Jae-in said in a cabinet meeting on March 19 that the government should come up with a plan to enhance the competitiveness of the non-memory semiconductor sector to ease the nation’s excessive dependence on memory semiconductors.
"In 2013, Samsung Electronics unveiled the ‘Vision 2020’ to become the world's top electronics manufacturer by 2020. Now the company has disclosed a blueprint to become No. 1 in the global non-memory industry,” an industry analyst said.