South Korea’s largest chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. said on Tuesday that its new-generation fabrication line at Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, is fully ready to roll out cutting-edge three-dimensional vertical non-volatile storage (V-NAND) flash memory chips.

According to Samsung Electronics on Tuesday, the fab would be turning out 3D VNAND flash memory of 64-layer die in a capacity of 256-Gb (gigabit per second) to meet consumer demand for superfast and super-performing storage to power mobile devices and PCs with a goal to make the version its mainstream along with 48-layer flash by the end of the year.

The company held an event to celebrate the shipment in the presence of about 100 employees including Kwon Oh-hyun, the company’s vice chairman, and Kim Ki-nam, president of Samsung’s semiconductor business.

The world’s top chipmaker would spend up to 37 trillion won by 2021 in Pyeongtaek complex, which already has the world’s biggest capacity.

Apart from facility expansion in Pyeongtaek, Samsung Electronics will invest 6 trillion won ($5.22 billion) in its facility in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, by adding a new line for extreme ultra violet (EUV) equipment.

Samsung Electronics will expand its fab in Xi’an, China, which has been running at full capacity after construction was complete in 2014. The move comes as part of efforts to respond to the growing market in China, world’s largest buyer of NAND flash memory.

Separately, Samsung Display Co. also said that it is considering building a new organic light-emitting diode (OLED) infrastructure complex in Asan, South Chungcheong.

Samsung said that it aims to secure competitiveness in the components sector by promoting large investments in its semiconductor and display production lines while at the same time contribute to creating jobs in the country and developing overall IT industry.

Shares of Samsung Electronics ended Tuesday at 2,350,000 won ($2,043.48), down 11,000 won or 0.47 percent from the previous session.

By Song Sung-hoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]