The company said that it would spend $33 billion to build eight chip fabrication lines and one research and development facility by 2012 at its semiconductor complex in Hwaseong, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Seoul.
Samsung Electronics, now one of the world's top electronics companies, said that the investment is part of plans to achieve annual semiconductor sales of $61 billion by 2012, up from $16.3 billion last year.
"We plan to put in $33 billion to create the world's largest semiconductor cluster," said Samsung Electronics president Hwang Chang-Kyu at the groundbreaking ceremony for the project.
Lee Hak-Soo, head of the Samsung Group's powerful corporate restructuring headquarters, said that the project would be a boon to the country's economy facing a protracted slowdown.
"Samsung's semiconductor business, built on a management philosophy giving priority to technology and [with] the chances only granted to pioneers, serves as a strong support for the country's economy," Lee said.
When completed in 2012 Samsung will have a total of 24 semiconductor production lines at its massive Hwaseong complex, with the first of the new lines to begin operation in the first half of 2006.
The project is expected to create some 14,000 new jobs by 2012, it added.
The $33 billion include some $850 million for a new research and development facility dedicated to developing next generation semiconductor chips on top of its existing five research and development operations.
The research and development center will hire a total of 5,000 researchers, it said.
The announcement came as Samsung Group found itself in hot water after its head was told to appear before parliament and the president attacked South Korea's top conglomerate for its controversial corporate governance record.
In a rare move the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Committee decided on Tuesday to summon Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-Hee next week and question him over debts left unpaid by the group's bankrupt Samsung Motors.
The parliamentary move coincided with an attack by President Roh Moo-Hyun, who charged that the group was seeking to sidestep a government drive for corporate governance reform.
Roh also took issue with the controversial acquisition of shares in a Samsung Group unit by Lee's son, Jay-Yong, widely seen here as heir apparent.
© 2005 Agence France-Presse
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