An employee works at the production line of Samsung China Semiconductor in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Photo: Courtesy of Samsung

The 12-inch NAND flash memory chip phase II project of Samsung China Semiconductor Co in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, entered equipment installation phase on Thursday.

The construction of the second phase of the project is expected to be completed and put into operation by mid-2021. When the second phase is fully operational, output is expected to reach 130,000 wafers per month, which will account for 40 percent of Samsung's global production of similar wafers, media reported.

On January 16, a cargo flight route from Xi'an to Tokyo was opened, with inbound carrying raw materials and equipment such as wafers, accessories and photoresists for Samsung's Xi'an chip plant. Outbound cargo export laptop computers and other electronic products, cctv.com reported.

The route, operated by SF Airlines, is scheduled to operate once a week. This route is expected to increase the cargo throughput of Xi 'an Xianyang International Airport by about 5,000 tons in the whole year, among which the import volume of Samsung Semiconductor is expected to reach 3,000 tons, which can effectively guarantee the construction demand of Samsung Phase II project.

In August 2017, Samsung Electronics and the Shaanxi Provincial Government signed cooperation agreement, and announced that Samsung will make an initial investment of $7 billion in the second plant in the Xi'an complex to boost output of NAND flashes from 20,000 wafers to 65,000 wafers per month.

It is a renewed investment since Samsung Electronics settled in Xi 'an High-tech Zone in 2012, investing $10 billion in the first phase of the wafer project. At that time, the project became the largest investment project in the history of Samsung's overseas investment, and the largest foreign investment project in China's electronics industry, statistics showed.

Samsung's phase I chip project was completed and put into production in May 2014. The project has led more than 100 supporting enterprises to settle in Xi'an High-tech Zone. The first-phase project has a monthly production of 120,000 wafers and an annual output value of more than 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion).

Global Times