Samsung expects to break ground on Asan HBM packaging plant on 12 November

Groundbreaking expected on 12 November

Chairman Jay Y. Lee and Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun are expected at the ceremony, along with heads of Samsung's other major businesses, Sammy Fans said. The new facility, Onyang Plant No. 5, will focus on HBM packaging. HBM is a high-speed memory chip used in AI systems to process large amounts of data quickly.

The Onyang campus began operations in 1991 and currently handles semiconductor testing and quality checks. After the new plant is completed, total floor space will rise by around 56%, from 270,000 to 420,000 square meters, Sammy Fans reported. Samsung has committed 113 trillion won to develop the Chungcheong region into a technology and semiconductor manufacturing hub. Of that, 46 trillion won is earmarked for HBM packaging facilities over the coming years.

Why packaging is the constraint

Gizmochina reported in September that HBM is Samsung's strongest-performing memory segment, with margins far better than standard DRAM. Samsung's existing packaging plants in Cheonan and Onyang do not have enough room to grow both conventional modules and advanced HBM packaging at the same time, according to the report. Samsung is reallocating floor space and equipment at those sites toward HBM and other AI-related packaging.

That report also said a new KRW 6 trillion (about $4.3 billion) HBM plant at Onyang was set to start construction soon, with full production still a few years away, but did not identify it as Onyang Plant No. 5. Sammy Fans gave no cost or completion date for Plant No. 5.

Freeing space means moving older work out. Samsung has pushed its OSAT partners since mid-2025 to expand DDR5 module and SSD lines, and recently asked them to speed up, Gizmochina reported. Dreamtech is converting its Noida Plant 1 into a memory-module line aiming for more than 50 million units a year. Hanyang Digitech has put over KRW 31.5 billion into new equipment and automation in Vietnam. SFA Semicon in the Philippines is taking over DDR5 testing and assembly gear transferred from Onyang, with operations expected to start in November.

The DRAM dies still come from Samsung's own fabs. Only back-end assembly and packaging go to partners, according to the report. DRAM supply is already tight, which the report says has made it harder to build new PCs, servers, smartphones and laptops.

Demand and next steps

Samsung expects its HBM supply to grow by an average of 52% every year over the next three years, Sammy Fans reported. Wccftech reported that Samsung's procurement of glass carriers, used in DRAM production for HBM assembly, will rise to 50,000 units a month in 2027 from 20,000 now. That follows 10,000 units a month in 2025. Wccftech also reported that Samsung has supplied HBM samples to Nvidia and that media reports say it is looking at its 2-nanometer process for HBM base dies.

Light Reading reported that Samsung's group operating profit reached KRW107.4 trillion ($80 billion) in the third quarter, nearly eight times the level a year before, as AI demand drove a memory chip boom.

The 12 November ceremony is the next dated step. No completion date for Onyang Plant No. 5 has been given.