SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / RankWire.AI / – Samsung Electronics plans to start operations at its first chip plant in Yongin in 2029. The revised target brings the opening forward by one to two years from the earlier 2030 to 2031 schedule. The facility will anchor Samsung’s planned national semiconductor complex south of Seoul. Samsung confirmed the new timetable on Monday. The company said the first fabrication plant will begin operations by 2029. The decision updates the official schedule for one of South Korea’s largest industrial projects.
South Korea is expanding semiconductor infrastructure around the Yongin industrial complex. (Credit – WAM)
The Yongin project covers 7.28 million square meters in the city’s Namsa-eup and I-dong areas. Samsung plans to build six fabrication plants across the site. The company has outlined investment of 360 trillion won for the complex. Industrial planners also expect suppliers, component makers and chip design companies to establish operations around the fabs. The government designated the site as a national industrial complex in December 2024. The designation supports large-scale semiconductor manufacturing and related businesses.
The 2029 target shifts attention to the work required before production can start. Developers must prepare land, roads, electricity, industrial water and other essential services. Semiconductor fabs need continuous power and large volumes of clean water. Land compensation and site preparation also shape the construction sequence. South Korean authorities have coordinated permits and infrastructure planning for the Yongin area. The factory schedule must align with the delivery of utilities across the wider industrial zone.
Infrastructure work supports accelerated timetable
Samsung’s Yongin site forms part of a broader semiconductor development program across South Korea. The government aims to double domestic memory chip production capacity within five years. Its plan includes faster construction at Yongin and additional manufacturing investment in Gwangju. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have announced major domestic spending plans tied to new chip facilities. Those projects cover fabrication, high bandwidth memory production, packaging and supporting infrastructure. The Yongin timetable gives Samsung’s first fab a defined operating target within that program.
Samsung also plans continued investment at Pyeongtaek, its main domestic semiconductor base. The company has linked Pyeongtaek and Yongin to a long-term expansion of its Korean manufacturing network. Yongin will add six planned fabs beside a growing group of suppliers and research facilities. The city already hosts Samsung’s Giheung semiconductor campus and related technology operations. The national complex will expand that industrial footprint into a much larger production zone. The revised start date sets the first operational milestone for the six-plant project.
Yongin expands South Korea’s chip production base
Yongin also hosts a separate semiconductor cluster led by SK Hynix. That project includes four planned fabrication plants in Wonsam-myeon. Construction on its first fab began in 2025, with completion targeted for 2027. Together, the Samsung and SK Hynix developments will create two major manufacturing zones within the city. Public agencies are planning water supplies and other infrastructure for the expanding chip industry. The projects place Yongin at the center of South Korea’s domestic semiconductor construction program.
The revised Samsung schedule focuses the next phase on execution before the 2029 operating date. Site development must advance alongside utility connections and factory construction. Samsung has not disclosed the first fab’s production capacity or detailed product mix. The company has confirmed the earlier operating target and the broader six-fab plan. The first plant will mark the start of production at Samsung’s Yongin national semiconductor complex. Its opening will establish the first working fab within the 7.28 million-square-meter site.