Quoting Samsung vice president Ji Hyun-ki, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday that the Korean company would invest more than $14 billion in its NAND plant in Xian, China. Samsung has, however, denied this report in a statement to Reuters. The Korean tech giant is not outright rejecting the possibility of any investment but is saying no decision has been made yet.
“The second-phase amount of investment in the second production line has not been decided and will depend on market conditions,” Samsung told Reuters in a statement. It is not immediately clear if the Xinhua report misquoted Ji Hyun-ki or that Samsung is backtracking on his comments.
Samsung had announced in 2017 that it would invest around $7 billion over the next three years in its Xian NAND plant. However, a lot has changed in the chip market since then, making Samsung and other chipmakers rethink their capital investments.
Samsung’s semiconductor business has generated record revenues for many consecutive quarters, riding on strong demand and high prices for its NAND chips. The boom seems to have finally come to an end with both demand and prices falling swiftly, forcing chipmakers to question the viability of large-scale capital investments in the industry. Samsung’s dilemma over investment in its Chinese NAND plant can be seen as part of the same phenomenon.
