The South-Korean firm plans to setup a new flash memory chip plant in China, it's second overseas manufacturing site for the chips. The development will cost Samsung a handsome $4 billion, but it will help it to prepare for an expected boom in smartphone and tablet computers that will rely on flash memory for storage.
The global NAND memory chip market is estimated at around $22 billion this year, and is expected to rise around 20 percent to $26 billion in 2012, with growth continuing for years after. The new Chinese line will start operating in 2013, and will enable Samsung to, "meet fast growing demand from our customers and at the same time strengthen our overall competitiveness in the memory industry," according to Jun Dong-soo, head of Samsung's memory business.
China is expected to overtake the United States as the top market in the world for electronics products, driven by the growth of income levels in the region.
Samsung's move helps its position in the global market, but is seen as a move to cater to Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, who have seen steady rises in their smartphone and tablet market shares.
The new production lne will use cutting-edge 20-nanometer-class processing technology.
Written by: James Delahunty @ 6 Dec 2011 9:02
