Overview
- CEO Score data published June 10, 2026, show Samsung spent 89.9 trillion won on semiconductor capital expenditure and R&D in 2025, divided into 52.2 trillion won in capex and 37.7 trillion won in R&D.
- That total outpaced peers by a wide margin, with Taiwan’s TSMC reported at 69.4 trillion won for 2025.
- Samsung kept investing through the 2023 downturn, when operating profit fell about 84.9 percent to 6.57 trillion won while the company still invested 88.9 trillion won that year, a move observers say helped set up the recent industry upcycle.
- Coverage links the heavy spending to better ability to meet surging AI semiconductor demand and to potential improvement in foundry margins, though single-source technical claims such as a first 2nm Exynos are not independently confirmed.
- Corporate tracker CEO Score warned that pressure to pay large bonuses or distribute retained earnings during the boom could limit the continued capital spending the chip industry needs, a dynamic that could affect long-term capacity and competitiveness.