According to a Nikkei recent report, Samsung Electronics is expected to invest more than US$30 billion in its semiconductor business in 2021 to stabilize its memory chip production capacity and expand its foundry business.

The report said that Samsung's semiconductor business has an operating profit margin of 27% in the first three quarters of 2020, which is much higher than the 12% of the smartphone and mobile business and 8% of the consumer electronics business. Samsung said in October last year that it expects to invest 28.9 trillion won (approximately US$26.5 billion) in the semiconductor business in 2020.

Industry insiders revealed that Samsung has formulated a production capacity plan for 2021, which shows that semiconductor capital investment will increase by 20% to 30% over last year, which means that the investment amount may exceed US$30 billion.

The report pointed out that Samsung’s increased investment this year will be mainly at its Pyeongtaek production base near Seoul. Samsung will continue to increase the NAND flash memory capacity of its manufacturing plant in Xi’an, China, and expand its production line at its Austin plant in the United States.