🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Samsung’s 2028 Pyeongtaek plan centers on memory, with foundry work overlapping

• P5 lines up for 2028 mass output after a 2024 pause 1. It will make DRAM (computer working memory), NAND flash (storage chips), and foundry products (processors made for external customers) with investment above $22 billion 1.
• Samsung is converting P4 to HBM4 in 2026 with 60,000 wafers per month 2, while the 1.4nm pilot at Pyeongtaek Plant 2 slips to late 2025 or early 2026 with initial mass output unlikely before 2028 3. That timeline makes P5 in 2028 a scale move for HBM4/4E and other advanced memory rather than a bid for breakthrough logic nodes.
• AI chip revenue could reach $133 billion by 2028 1. HBM stays tight through 2027 4, which sets up a demand peak as rivals hold limited room to expand 2.

Vendors should target 2026–2027 for Samsung Pyeongtaek buys

• The company raised a Pyeongtaek plant contract to $3 billion 5, and Samsung E&A, its engineering and construction unit, won a ₩910 billion Pyeongtaek Campus project 6. Those deals start Engineering, Procurement, and Construction work that comes 12 to 18 months before tool installs.
• Heavy equipment could land at P5 as early as October 2025 1. Suppliers of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools and Through-Silicon Via packaging gear should prepare for 2026 orders as the build moves toward the 2028 target 2.
• P4 adds 80,000 wafers per month for 1c DRAM, a mid 2020s memory node 7. Utility-system vendors for power and water should qualify now. Providers of natural gas and industrial gases should target 2026 to 2027 installs before the ramp.