Korea's Chip Makers Earmark US$4.15 Billion for New Investments
February 23, 2000 (SEOUL) -- Korea's chip makers have set their investment plans for 2000.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) said on Feb. 21 that six chip makers, including Hyundai, Samsung, Anam and Fairchild Korea groups, have expanded their investment amounts for this year.
The additional investments will be mainly focused on strengthening existing production facilities rather than building new production plants, while the overall investment amount has jumped by 58 percent on an annual comparison to US$4.15 billion for 2000, MOCIE said.
Investment in research and development will stand at around US$530 million, and will focus mainly on information communications and non-memory chips and next-generation memory chips for electronic home appliances and digital products.
IC Insights, a market research institution, said that total facilities investment in the global chip market will swing up by 26 percent on a yearly comparison to US$38.7 billion this year. By country, the United States has set investment goals at US$12.3 billion, Japan US$8.6 billion, Taiwan US$7.7 billion, Europe US$4 billion and Korea US$4.3 billion.
(Maeil Business Newspaper, Korea)
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