According to sources in the foundry industry, Samsung plans to build a 200mm wafer foundry in a joint venture with the Xi'an municipal government in China.
The source said that Samsung originally invested in high-end memory chip projects in Xi'an and had no intention of building a 200mm wafer foundry in Xi'an. Samsung's foundry is mainly 300mm, in South Korea, and only has a 200mm foundry.
According to earlier reports, Samsung Semiconductor China was established in 2012 and the company is located in Xi'an. After its establishment, Samsung Electronics invested US$10.5 billion to build the first phase of the high-end flash memory chip project and the packaging and testing center, which was completed and put into production in May 2014.
In August 2017, Samsung signed an investment cooperation agreement with the Xi'an Municipal Government to invest USD 7 billion to build the second phase of flash memory chip project. In March 2020, the products produced in the first part of the second phase are officially launched on the market, and the second part of the second phase is expected to be completed and put into production in mid-2021.
