Samsung Electronics has officially opened a major semiconductor research hub in Yokohama, Japan, deepening its cooperation with Japanese companies as the global race for AI chips and advanced semiconductor packaging intensifies.
The facility, known as the Advanced Package Lab (APL), is focused on next-generation semiconductor packaging — a technology becoming increasingly important as chipmakers try to deliver greater computing performance without relying solely on shrinking transistor sizes.
The opening ceremony was held September 8 in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai district, with around 100 people attending, including Samsung executives, Japanese and South Korean government representatives and officials from Samsung’s customer companies. Samsung Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who heads its semiconductor business, was among those present.
Why Samsung chose Japan
The move is about more than simply expanding Samsung’s research footprint.
Japan remains home to a powerful ecosystem of semiconductor materials, equipment manufacturers, universities and research institutions. Samsung plans to work more closely with Japanese companies and researchers to develop advanced packaging technologies for high-performance chips, particularly those serving the rapidly expanding AI market.
Samsung has also identified a practical reason for conducting research in Japan.
According to KBS World, transporting semiconductor materials from Japanese suppliers to Samsung’s research facilities in South Korea could take around two months. Establishing a research base closer to those suppliers can shorten development cycles and make it easier to conduct experiments using Japanese materials and equipment.
The Yokohama area also gives Samsung access to a deep pool of engineers and research institutions.
A ¥40 billion investment
Samsung plans to invest approximately ¥40 billion ($260 million) in the Yokohama facility through 2028.
The Japan Times reported that the investment includes about ¥20 billion in Japanese government subsidies, while Japanese reporting also indicates that Yokohama City is providing additional support of approximately ¥2.5 billion.
Samsung began preparing the research base in 2023, with facilities and equipment introduced in stages. The site became capable of full-scale experiments and evaluations in 2026. About 95 researchers from Japan and South Korea are currently working there, according to The Japan Times.
KBS World reported that Samsung aims to have more than 100 researchers at the facility by 2027.
The real battleground: AI chip packaging
The technology Samsung is pursuing in Yokohama is particularly significant because of the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence computing.
Advanced packaging allows multiple semiconductor components to be integrated into a single high-performance package. This is increasingly important for technologies such as AI accelerators and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which must move huge amounts of data rapidly.
As traditional chip miniaturization approaches increasingly difficult technical limits, advanced packaging is becoming another major way for semiconductor companies to increase performance.
Samsung’s Yokohama facility will therefore place the company closer to Japanese suppliers while allowing it to pursue technologies that could determine the competitiveness of future AI chips.
Samsung is not entering an empty field
The competition is already intense.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has established a strong position in advanced semiconductor packaging, while Samsung is attempting to strengthen its own capabilities across the semiconductor value chain.
The urgency is being amplified by the AI boom.
Reuters reported this week that major semiconductor manufacturers, including Samsung, are preparing for continued demand for advanced chips and memory as AI infrastructure expands. ASML said Samsung plans to introduce High-NA EUV technology into high-volume DRAM production by 2028.
Samsung’s own foundry business has also been experiencing stronger demand. Reuters reported in August that Samsung raised prices on some advanced chipmaking services by as much as 15% amid increasing AI-chip demand and tighter production capacity.
Japan also sees strategic value
The Yokohama project comes as governments across Asia increasingly treat semiconductors as a matter of economic and technological security, not simply commercial competition.
Japan wants to strengthen its domestic semiconductor supply chain and maintain its position in critical materials and manufacturing equipment, while South Korea is aggressively expanding its own semiconductor ecosystem.
South Korea announced a 5 trillion won ($3.52 billion) semiconductor fund in August aimed at supporting chip materials, parts, equipment and fabless companies. Seoul is also pursuing a much larger semiconductor investment program involving Samsung, SK Hynix and other companies.
At the same time, Japanese manufacturers are benefiting from the surge in semiconductor and data-center demand. A Reuters survey found that sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers reached its strongest level since December 2021 in September, with electronics companies leading the improvement.
That makes Samsung’s decision to expand semiconductor R&D in Japan particularly significant.
A new chapter in Japan-South Korea chip cooperation
The Yokohama laboratory represents a notable intersection of two semiconductor strengths: South Korea’s global chipmaking power and Japan’s expertise in semiconductor materials, equipment and related technologies.
Samsung already has a longstanding research presence in Japan. Samsung’s semiconductor research organization says its Samsung R&D Institute Japan was established in 1992, while Samsung Device Solutions R&D Japan was established in 2023 to expand research activities for its semiconductor business. Its research areas include advanced packaging, system LSI, electronic materials and next-generation semiconductor technologies.
The latest Yokohama investment takes that relationship further by putting advanced packaging research closer to Japan’s semiconductor ecosystem.
The bigger picture
Samsung isn’t simply opening another laboratory.
It is positioning itself closer to the companies, materials, equipment and talent that could help determine who wins the next generation of AI semiconductor technology.
With AI demand driving investment across the global chip industry, advanced packaging is emerging as one of the industry’s most important battlegrounds.
And Samsung’s decision to put a major research operation in Yokohama suggests that Japan could become an increasingly important piece of South Korea’s strategy to challenge rivals in the AI-chip era.
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