Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are accelerating overseas production and domestic capacity plans to capture Big Tech’s growing AI-chip demand, deepen local supplier relationships and support valuations through shareholder returns. Samsung is adding 1.4-nanometer foundry capacity at its Taylor, Texas complex, where it plans to start the first plant this year, break ground on a second late this year for 2030 operations and invest $37 billion. It has also raised 4nm foundry prices by up to 15% and decided to build a 400 trillion won memory fab in Korea’s Honam region, with one or two additional phases under consideration. SK hynix is weighing a memory-chip manufacturing plant in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture that could require tens of trillions of won after Chairman Chey Tae-won’s visit, while reviewing a first U.S. front-end fab beside its $3.87 billion HBM packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, scheduled to begin operations in the second quarter of 2028. The expansion comes as AI companies scale rapidly: Anthropic’s second-quarter revenue reached $11.5 billion, annualized revenue was $65 billion at the end of July, and the company is reportedly preparing an IPO targeting a $2 trillion valuation. Both Korean chipmakers are seeking closer ties with local materials, parts and equipment suppliers while countering China’s CXMT and YMTC.