Samsung Biologics has begun construction of the world's largest bio pharmaceutical production plant in Songdo, Incheon, and has opened an era of super gap competitiveness in the biopharmaceutical CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization)/CDO (Contract Development Organization) market.
Samsung Biologics held an online press conference on Aug. 11 and announced the expansion of its fourth plant. The fourth plant will produce 256,000 liters, breaking the record of the third plant (180,000 liters), the world's largest production facility based on the current single plant.
Samsung Biologics plans to spend 1.74 trillion won ($1.47 billion) on the construction of its fourth plant. If the site of the second bio campus is secured in the future, total investment will exceed 2 trillion won.
The amount is more than double the 850 billion won investment for the third plant, which was completed in 2017. It is also the largest investment ever, comparable to 2.1 trillion won, the cumulative investment of Samsung Biologics over the past nine years.
CEO Kim Tae-han said, "We have finalized the plan to expand the fourth plant in consideration of the rapid growth rate of the bio-medicine market and the rapid increase in the share of CMO/CDO by global pharmaceutical companies."
The total floor area of the fourth plant is about 238,000 square meters (72,000 pyeong), close to the total floor area of 240,000 square meters (73,000 pyeong) of factories No. 1,2,3 and about 1.5 times the size of the Sangam World Cup Stadium.
Samsung Biologics plans to incorporate its unique design technology into its fourth plant as well as know-how accumulated through the construction of existing plants No. 1, 2, and 3. It will also build the world's most efficient eco-friendly bio-medicine plant with state-of-the-art facilities and automation technologies.
Starting with the groundbreaking ceremony in the second half of this year, the fourth plant plans to start partial production at the end of 2022. When the fourth plant goes into operation, Samsung Biologics is expected to account for about 30 percent of global CMO production as it has a total production capacity of 620,000 liters.
With the construction of the fourth plant, Samsung Biologics will hire 1,800 more employees and hire 6,400 additional construction workers. This is expected to have a ripple effect of about 5.6 trillion won in production inducement effect and about 27,000 people in job creation effect.
