Samsung Biologics is speeding up the construction of its fifth factory, with the goal of completing it by April 2025, five months ahead of the initial target date. The company unveiled the progress during a presentation at its Bio Campus 2 and Plant 5 Project briefing in Songdo, Incheon on Tuesday.

Plant 5, located in Samsung Biologics’ second Bio Campus, is a three-story building spanning 96,000 square meters and is currently under construction.

“The overall progress of the Plant 5 construction project is about 32 percent as of this month,” according to Lo Kun, executive vice president and head of Samsung Biologics’ EPCV Center. “The plant was originally targeted to be completed by September 2025, but due to market conditions, we shortened the target by five months and aim to complete the plant by April 2025.”

The project represents a significant expansion of Samsung Biologics’ manufacturing capacity, with the company intending to secure a contract manufacturing capacity of 784,000 liters annually once Plant 5 begins operations and aims to further meet the increasing demand for antibody drugs by April 2025.

The plant is the first production facility to be built at the Bio Campus 2, and construction began in April 2023. In the past 12 years since its founding, Samsung Biologics has built and operated four factories at the Bio Campus 1, but due to increasing overseas orders, the company secured land for another campus located at Songdo International City’s District 11 in July 2022.

The company plans to build six more factories on this new campus by 2027 and complete seven or eight factories as well as a utility center by 2032. Plants 5 to 8 will each have a production capacity of 180,000 liters, increasing Samsung Biologics’ total production capacity to 1.34 million liters when the second campus is completed in 2032. The figure includes the 604,000-liter capacity of the Campus 1 plants.

Plant 5’s design and construction leverage the expertise and experience that Samsung Biologics has accumulated over the years. The company employs a “cookie-cut” approach, which involves constructing uniform buildings with the same design to enhance operational efficiency.

Plants 6 to 8 will follow Plant 5’s design layout, creating a symmetrical layout. “Plants 5 to 8 will almost be clones of each other. We can apply the same operating system for each factory, which standardizes production procedures and increase efficiency in terms of staff rotation,” Lo said.

By Kang Min-ho and Minu Kim

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