Samsung yet to finalise expansion plan for 3D NAND facilities in China

Samsung today said it has not reached a decision on investing funds to expand its 3D NAND flash facilities in China.

The South Korean tech giant said in a regulatory filing that it was considering various options on the NAND flash business, including making an investment in China, but made clear nothing had been fixed at present.

The announcement came through a regulatory filing under request of the main bourse operator Korea Exchange earlier following rumours, Yonhap reported. Samsung accounts for 37.1 per cent of the global NAND flash market, including 3D models, in the fourth quarter of 2016

Samsung said yesterday that it was considering adding memory chip production capacity at its manufacturing base in Xi'an, China as the industry experiences a boom that will likely fuel record sales for memory suppliers.

However, no specifics, including potential investment and what products it would make with the additional resources, has been decided, a Samsung spokesman said.

Samsung had already invested $7 billion in the Xi'an facility to make 3D NAND memory chips used in high-end data storage products on electronic devices such as smartphones, personal computers and data servers.

In 3D NAND flash memory the memory cells are stacked vertically in multiple layers.

South Korean media had reported on 29 May that Samsung was in advanced talks with the Chinese authorities to add 3D NAND chip capacity in Xi'an, and that construction could begin before the year-end.

The South Korean firm and other memory chip companies are expected to reap record revenue and profits in 2017, driven by increased demand for more processing firepower in consumer electronics, and diminishing production yield on investment as technology grew more sophisticated. According to researcher HIS, this year's memory industry revenue is expected to jump 32 per cent to a record $104 billion.