Samsung Biologics Co., the biotech arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, said Wednesday it will open a new biomedicine production facility in April 2025 as part of its plans to deal with rising contract manufacturing demand.
The company has invested 1.98 trillion won (US$1.46 billion) to build its fifth plant, the first production facility to be built at its new bio complex, dubbed Bio Campus II, in Songdo, west of Seoul.
The production capacity of Plant 5, which broke ground in April, will be 180,000 liters, consisting of 12 units of 15,000-liter bioreactor, increasing Samsung Biologics' total capacity to a world-leading 784,000 liters.
With the construction of Plant 5, the company has also started its 7.5 trillion-won project to build the 357,000-square-meter Bio Campus II by 2032, housing Plant 5 and four more production facilities, as well as an open innovation center.
The new complex is expected to expand the company's total production capacity to 1.32 million liters.
Samsung Biologics said the new facility will help the company meet the increasing demand from its customers and contract development and manufacturing organizations.
The company said it is expected to log 3.6 trillion won in annual sales this year, some 20 percent higher than the initial forecast, thanks to large-scale new contracts with the world's leading pharmaceutical companies and the full operation of its fourth and largest plant in the country.
Earlier this year, the company won contract manufacturing organization deals with Pfizer, Novartis and others.
The company posted an annual revenue of 3 trillion won in 2022, up 91.4 percent from a year earlier, becoming the first local pharmaceutical firm to surpass the landmark 3 trillion-won line.