SK Group, Samsung Electronics, and Amkor will invest a combined KRW896 trillion (US$585.2 billion) to build South Korea's second major semiconductor production base in the country's southwest, the industry ministry said.
South Korea is considering exempting research and development personnel from the country's 52-hour workweek limit inside proposed Mega Special Zones. These would include a planned second semiconductor cluster in the southwestern Honam region.
Samsung Electronics is negotiating with customers to raise average selling prices for commodity DRAM by as much as 20% in the third quarter of 2026 from the prior quarter, according to ZDNet Korea, which cited industry sources.
As Moore's Law approaches its physical limits, simply shrinking semiconductor process nodes is no longer the sole path to improving chip performance.
SEMI has warned the Trump administration that intervening in memory-chip pricing or production capacity could worsen a historic supply shortage driven by the artificial intelligence boom.
Apple is reportedly planning to launch at least five new models by this time next year, with the company expanding its foldables' production. Amid surging component prices and a weakening smartphone market, these moves may be a bid to gain market share while rivals are on the back foot.
China's memory price rally continues to gather momentum. Giantec Semiconductor Corporation, a Chinese NOR flash supplier, recently notified its distribution partners that prices for its entire NOR flash memory product portfolio will increase by 25% beginning July 6, 2026. The new pricing will apply to both newly signed orders and outstanding orders that have yet to be delivered.
Samsung Group detailed plans on July 2 to invest KRW140 trillion (US$90 billion) in display panels, batteries, chips, and chip materials in South Korea's central Chungcheong region.
Memory suppliers are renegotiating high-bandwidth memory contracts, and PC brands say price increases may slow later this year. For global buyers, that relief could be short-lived, as supply-chain sources warn that shortages tied to artificial intelligence demand are likely to keep memory markets tight through 2027.
Qualcomm recently launched its Dragonfly platform, signaling a deeper push into cloud artificial intelligence and intensifying competition with MediaTek. For global readers, the move highlights how chip suppliers are jockeying to win long-term contracts from major cloud providers, where design wins can shape revenue, supply chains, and future AI infrastructure.
Samsung Electronics' plan to build two new semiconductor fabs in Gwangju is turning South Korea's southwest chip push into a test of whether the country can deliver enough power, water and permits to support a second major production base outside the Seoul metropolitan area.
