Samsung invests in Xi'an as electronic information industrial base

South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics Co is helping to build Xi’an, capital of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province, into an electronic information industry cluster, boosting the local economy and stimulating public service activities.

The company invested $10 billion to build memory chips in the Xi'an High-Tech Industries Development Zone in 2012. It’s not only the biggest overseas investment project for Samsung, but also China’s biggest foreign investment project in the electronic information segment since the reform and opening-up.

In August 2017 Samsung made another $7 billion investment to build a new factory as the second phase of the project.

“With the rapid development of the global mobile and IT market, the demand for high-end V-NAND products is growing, which the current production capacity can hardly meet,” according to a written statement made by Samsung China Semiconductor, Samsung’s Chinese subsidiary for the project[P1] , in response to media enquires. “The new factory aims to provide quicker services to clients worldwide and guarantee a stable supply of products.”

The statement says the program, which involves Chinese and Korean engineers, is going smoothly.

According to the statement, “China is a major production base for IT companies, which supplies50 percent of flash memory chips. The investment expects to improve our competiveness of chip production, as well as better meet the demands of local customers.”

It adds that the investment also shows Samsung’s positive view of China’s economy, and that it attaches great importance to the Chinese market.

The biggest foreign investor in Xi’an, Samsung contributed up to 61.1 billion yuan, or 22.5 percent, to the city’s gross exports and imports, in 2017.

It also attracted over 100 related companies to settle in the city, which helped it to construct a semiconductor industrial center valued at 100 billion yuan.

Samsung China Semiconductor went on to remark that Chinese engineers can gain knowledge and experience in chip production technology by working with Samsung, and help promote development of the Chinese semiconductor industry in the long run.

The company required only 88 days to get registered in the zone. The first phase of the project, from construction to operation, took only 15 months. The second phase, from signing the Memorandum of Understanding to getting construction licenses, needed 82 days.

“It shows the working efficiency of Xi’an,” the company said.

An additional benefit is Xi’an’s improved customs clearance processing.

In the company’s view, Shaanxi, with its many mobile phone producers and internet companies, is an ideal location for the nationwide development of the electronic information industry.

The project is bringing not only economic benefit, but also social responsibility.

Since 2013 Samsung has poured over 15 million yuan into local non-profit programs. It sponsored the Xi’an City Wall International Marathon for six consecutive years, and supports the poverty-relief program in Xinan village of Huxian county and Santaishan village of Lantian county.

Xi’an and Shaanxi together face a brighter future thanks to Samsung’s confidence in the strength of their social and technological fabric.