Samsung has been given approval by the Korean government to build a Giga-Fab for memory in China. Now it has to seek permission from the China government.
It will be only the second leading edge memory fab to be built in China. The first was NEC which set up a DRAM fab in Shanghai in 1999. That fab is now the Hua Hong foundry which merged with Grace Semiconductor last week.
Samsung’s fab will be for NAND flash which is used extensively by China’s OEMs which represent the largest national consumer electronics operation in the world.
The fab will be built to process 100,000 300mm wafers a month when fully equipped, and is set to start production in 2013.
The Korean government stressed its concerns with security, fearing the possibility of Samsung’s design and process secrets being leaked.
Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said it would be monitoring security at the plant.