[News] Samsung Reportedly Plans $170M Chip Packaging R&D Center in Yokohama, Opening Mar. 2027

According to The Korea Economic Daily, sources indicate that Samsung Electronics will invest 25 billion yen (about $170 million) to establish an advanced chip packaging research and development center in Yokohama, Japan. The report adds that the City of Yokohama, which announced Samsung’s R&D center plan in December 2023, will offer a 2.5 billion yen subsidy to support the lab’s launch.

As the report points out, Samsung plans to open the research lab in March 2027, aiming to strengthen partnerships with Japanese semiconductor material and equipment makers—such as Disco Corp., Namics Corp., and Rasonac Corp.—alongside the University of Tokyo. Samsung plans to hire University of Tokyo researchers to strengthen its packaging R&D in Yokohama, the report adds.

Notably, according to the report, TSMC likewise set up a research lab at the University of Tokyo in 2019 to advance its packaging technologies. The partnership has since strengthened, with Nikkei noting that in June 2025 TSMC announced a joint research laboratory with the university—its first outside Taiwan.

The Korea Economic Daily notes that packaging is a key component of Samsung’s ambitious turn-key chip manufacturing services. As highlighted in the report, Samsung is the only South Korean player in this field, holding a 5.9% share of the global chip packaging market.

Samsung has been stepping up its chip packaging initiatives. In addition to setting up a new R&D center in Japan, the company is working on new technologies to gain an edge over TSMC. According to ZDNet, Samsung Electronics is developing System-on-Panel (SoP), an advanced semiconductor packaging technology.

As explained by ZDNet, SoP integrates semiconductors on an extra-large panel, enabling much larger modules than conventional packaging allows. Instead of using a printed circuit board (PCB) or a silicon interposer—a thin layer between the chip and the board—SoP mounts multiple semiconductors directly on a rectangular panel.

In addition, the company is reportedly also considering adding an advanced packaging facility to its Taylor, Texas plant after securing a 22.8 trillion won (about USD 16.5 billion) contract to produce Tesla’s AI6 chips there, according to The Korea Economic Daily.

Read more

• [News] Samsung Reportedly Pushes SoP Packaging on Ultra-Large Panel, Challenging TSMC and Intel
• [News] Samsung May Boost Taylor Investment Beyond $50B, Poised to Be 2nd-Largest Foundry in the U.S.

(Photo credit: Samsung)