Lee Attends Samsung Electronics Groundbreaking at Asan Campus

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended a groundbreaking Thursday, Nov. 12, at Samsung Electronics’ Onyang campus in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, marking a construction milestone in the country’s semiconductor expansion.

Lee’s Sept. 23 pledge to double South Korea’s memory-chip production capacity within five years tied the target to a roughly $520 billion semiconductor investment push. The government plan includes four new memory fabrication plants in the southwest. Companies are also expanding beyond existing production centers, with advanced packaging facilities in preparation in the central region.

Samsung Electronics has outlined about $260 billion in semiconductor investment in Gwangju, including two new fabs. SK hynix has announced a similarly sized southwestern semiconductor cluster that includes a 1-gigawatt AI data center.

The broader plans span memory production, chip fabrication, packaging and AI infrastructure. The Onyang groundbreaking adds a construction milestone at Samsung Electronics’ campus as South Korea pursues that wider expansion.