Samsung aims to invest record US$73 billion on AI chip thrust

[SEOUL] Samsung Electronics plans to spend more than 110 trillion won (S$94.1 billion) on chip capacity expansion and research in 2026, devoting a record amount of capital towards an effort to seize the lead in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors.

South Korea’s largest company is hiking investment by 22 per cent in 2026 to try and retake the lead in AI chips from SK Hynix, which has become the dominant provider of high-bandwidth memory to Nvidia.

The total outlay surpasses the roughly US$50 billion that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is setting aside for capacity expansion in 2026.  

The decision reflects a strategic shift towards AI-driven demand.

At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday (Mar 18), co-chief executive officer Jun Young-hyun described how the rise of agentic AI is fuelling an explosive surge in orders – not just for high-bandwidth memory, but also for server-grade storage.

Consequently, the company will focus heavily on next-generation AI chips and advanced foundry processes.

An expansion of capacity may go some way towards resolving a global deficit of traditional memory that is hindering production in many industries.

Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology are enjoying an unprecedented surge in demand for the high-end memory that is essential to Nvidia accelerators.

But the shift in production is in turn fomenting a historic shortage of conventional memory chips that go into most modern devices – from cars to smartphones.

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That deficit is beginning to hammer profits, derail corporate plans and inflate price tags on everything, from laptops and smartphones to cars and data centres – and many expect the crunch to worsen before it improves.

SK Hynix is preparing to outline measures to help stabilise prices, SK group chairman Chey Tae-won said on Monday, without elaborating. 

He said he expected the global shortage to persist another four to five years because of endemic constraints in semiconductor production. BLOOMBERG