Samsung Electronics held a ceremony marking the installation of production equipment at a new integrated R&D complex in Yongin, South Korea, which is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2025.

In a statement, the company noted it is investing about KRW20 trillion ($14.3 billion) in the facility which will become a key research base for its memory, system LSI and foundry businesses.

It broke ground on the 109,000-square-metre facility, called NRD-K and located south of Seoul at its Giheung campus, in 2022.

Jun Young-hyun, vice chair and head of the Device Solutions Division, said the complex will “bolster our development speed, enabling the company to create a virtuous cycle to accelerate fundamental research on next-generation technology and mass production”.

The equipment includes extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography and new material deposition gear to accelerate the development of next-generation memory chips such as 3D DRAM and V-NAND with more than 1,000 layers, the vendor added.

As the chipmaker encounters intense competition from local rival SK Hynix, it has recently faced questions about its fundamental technological competitiveness.

In October, Jun vowed to reorganise the division, with a focus on culture and processes.

Samsung said it invested a record KRW8.9 trillion in R&D in Q3.