SEOUL, July 13 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics said on Monday it aims to bring forward the start of operations of its chip fabrication site in the city of Yongin, south of Seoul, to 2029 from 2030-2031, as it seeks to keep up with surging demand for memory chips used in AI infrastructure.
Last month, both Samsung and its South Korean rival SK Hynix announced pledges to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in expanding production capacity at home, after President Lee Jae Myung called for measures to narrow regional economic divides.
Under the plan, the government hopes South Korea can double its memory-chip production capacity within five years by speeding up the construction of fabs by Samsung and SK Hynix in Yongin, and building a new chip cluster in Gwangju city.
Samsung Electronics "plans to begin operations at its first fabrication plant in Yongin by 2029, which is one to two years ahead of the original schedule," a spokesperson said in a statement.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
