SEOUL, June 26 (Reuters) – Samsung Group will announce on Monday plans to invest 1,000 trillion won ($647.53 billion) in South Korea over 10 years, including a potential 300 trillion won to build chip factories in the southwest of the country, a media report said on Friday.
The investment, which would include AI data centers, batteries and displays, will be announced at a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, without citing sources.
Top executives from companies including Samsung Electronics and its rival SK Hynix will attend the meeting to unveil investment plans aimed at regions outside Seoul and nearby cities, the report said.
The report did not say when the investment would be made.
The chipmakers, which have concentrated their production facilities in areas around Seoul, have faced political pressure to invest more in other areas of the country.
President Lee had separate meetings with the heads of Samsung and SK this week, media reports said.
South Korea’s presidential office has said it planned to hold a public briefing on “three mega-projects for South Korea’s great leap forward” on Monday, adding that details on the meeting would be announced soon.
Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Samsung Group is South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, with chip giant Samsung Electronics as its crown jewel, but also other affiliates such as battery maker Samsung SDI and IT services company Samsung SDS.
A presidential adviser said this week that it is in talks with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix on the next phase of large-scale investments in semiconductor production facilities to meet exponential growth in demand for chips driven by the AI industry.
Presidential policy adviser Kim Yong-beom said that the two chipmakers may need to bring forward the construction of their new chip facilities south of Seoul by more than 10 years to 2034-2035 and find sites for new chip factories to keep up with the AI boom.
($1 = 1,544.3200 won)
(Reporting by Heejin Kim, Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce LeeEditing by Ed Davies)
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