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Samsung Biologics Co. is adding a new plant to its portfolio, and it will be its fifth facility for Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) deals. The South Korean biotech firm is building its newest plant in Songdo, Incheon, where it is currently headquartered.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, once Samsung Biologics completes the construction of the CDMO factory, its total production capacity will increase to 800,000 liters per year. The company is investing KRW1 trillion or $762.2 million for this project in South Korea.
It was noted that the company is making a fast follow-up with its investment since the fourth plant is also under construction. This factory has been dubbed the largest single biomanufacturing facility in the world, and construction is currently in full swing.
Samsung Group’s biotech arm confirmed the construction of its new Songdo plant late last week during its board meeting. It will soon rise on the second bio campus in the region’s free economic zone located west of Seoul. Prior to this announcement, Samsung Biologics already said in July of last year that it would allot KRW7.5 trillion to set up the campus by the year 2032.
In any case, the fifth plant will be the first one to be constructed on the second bio campus. While the third plant was built with just a KRW850 trillion budget, it is said to have a similar production capacity as the fifth factory. Sources said that the latest facility costs more because it will be constructed on a greenfield.
Korea Joongang Daily reported that Samsung Biologics would break ground for its fifth plant soon, and it is expected to be completed by September 2025. It will sit on a 96,000 square meter lot inside the Bio Campus II.
The company is expanding to take advantage of the current steady growth in demand for medical treatments. Finally, Samsung Biologics is taking this aggressive step of further building up its production facilities to cement its leadership in the global CDMO market.
“Amid the steady global demands for biopharmaceuticals, outsourcing of biomedical products is on the rise since the Covid-19 outbreak,” John Rim, Samsung Biologics’ chief executive officer, commented. “Preemptive investment is needed in order to continue our leadership in the market after the fourth plant.”
