Samsung restarts fifth chip factory as AI-memory demand drives Pyeongtaek buildout

Samsung has restarted construction of a fifth chip factory at its Pyeongtaek complex in South Korea after AI-driven memory demand revived a project halted during the 2024 downturn. An October 20 dispatch by MIT Technology Review’s Michelle Kim describes the buildout as Samsung’s effort to regain ground in the memory chips powering AI.

Three factories already operate around the clock at the site, while a fourth is coming online. These semiconductor fabrication plants are usually shortened to “fabs.”

Samsung predicts that memory-chip demand will continue to surge through 2028. That outlook underpins an expansion whose fifth factory previously stalled when demand fell.

The connection to AI runs through the hardware used to operate generative models. Powerful processors known as graphics processing units, or GPUs, depend on stacks of specialized memory chips packaged with the processor.

High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is used in Nvidia’s AI accelerators. Samsung’s domestic rival SK Hynix has pulled ahead in the global market for these chips. Pyeongtaek’s buildout therefore has a competitive purpose as well as a production goal: Samsung is seeking to reclaim its lead in memory.

Outside the fourth fab, Kim met Choi Hye-rin, a 35-year-old safety officer overseeing a crew that builds cable ducts. Choi’s work includes writing reports, inspecting equipment and checking the chemicals workers handle.

Choi is one of hundreds of women working on-site, many employed as spotters who walk ahead of heavy equipment. After lunch, construction resumes among excavators, rising steel structures and tower cranes.

Safety messages accompany the activity. Banners on the highest girders tell workers, “Even if the work runs late, don’t rush.” Helmets carry a pledge not to work in unsafe conditions, and an LED scoreboard displays winners of a safety-poem contest.

For Choi, the expansion offers a reason to stay despite the heat and crowded work zones. She earns 140,000 won, or $97, a day and told Kim the pay is higher than at other construction sites. She expects the boom to keep her working: “You just keep coming back.”