[Click eStock] "Samsung Biologics, a Clearer Big Picture"

Additional Large-Scale Bio Campus Established... Accelerating CDMO Business

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] As Samsung announced a large-scale investment plan worth 240 trillion KRW at the group level, evaluations suggest that the growth momentum of Samsung Biologics has become more concrete. In particular, attention is drawn to the plans for the construction of the 5th and 6th plants and the new entry into cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services.

On the 25th, Kyobo Securities maintained a 'Buy' investment rating on Samsung Biologics for these reasons and raised the target price by 5% to 1,050,000 KRW. The closing price the previous day was 956,000 KRW.

The day before, Samsung announced the large-scale investment plan just 11 days after Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics was released on parole on the 13th. The core of the plan is to newly invest 240 trillion KRW over three years until 2023 in strategic businesses such as semiconductors and bio, and to directly employ 40,000 people. This is the largest single-company investment plan surpassing the 180 trillion KRW investment plan announced in 2018.

Through this investment, Samsung Biologics has presented a long-term growth plan to replicate the semiconductor success story by strengthening CDMO and biosimilars. First, the 5th and 6th plants (2 Bio Campus) require large-scale investments separate from the currently under-construction 4th plant.

Researcher Kim Jeong-hyun of Kyobo Securities explained, "In particular, the 2 Bio Campus site is being discussed as a 100,000-pyeong scale similar to the 1 Bio Campus, so significant external growth can be expected. Also, diversification from antibody therapeutics to cell and gene therapies, which have high growth potential, will further justify the high corporate valuation Samsung Biologics currently receives."

The investment plan also highlights the revitalization of the domestic bio industry through ▲ localization of raw and subsidiary materials ▲ mass production of specialized personnel ▲ support for small and medium biotech technologies. Researcher Kim predicted, "If domestically produced raw and subsidiary materials are first applied to Samsung Bioepis's biosimilars, a track record of domestic raw materials will be secured in the future, greatly contributing to the activation of the Korean bio industry ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.