Samsung Biologics is accelerating its push to establish the world’s largest biopharmaceutical manufacturing hub, securing an additional 188,000 m² site in the Songdo 11th Advanced Industrial Cluster, Incheon. The land, roughly twice the size of its Plant 5 site, will form part of the company’s third campus. A purchase agreement could be signed as early as October.

The new campus will complement Campus 1 (Plants 1–4) and Campus 2 (Plant 5, with Plants 6–8 planned by 2032), which together will bring total capacity to 1,324,000 liters—up from the current 784,000 liters, already on par with Swiss CDMO leader Lonza’s 780,000 liters.

However, industry experts warn that in a CDMO market shifting from capacity races to long-term supply agreements, success will depend on securing strategic, trust-based client relationships to avoid underutilization risks.

Market research firms note that CDMOs are evolving into full-cycle partners, engaging in early development, product strategy, and commercial manufacturing. Lonza, for example, has a strategic agreement with Novartis for joint pipeline development and operates its Ibex® Solutions site in Switzerland for advanced therapies such as ADCs. WuXi Biologics has taken a similar route, signing a 20-year vaccine deal with Merck in 2019, building a dedicated facility in Ireland, and later selling it to Merck for $521 million. WuXi is also expanding with an integrated CRDMO site in Singapore and additional facilities in the U.S. and China.

Samsung Biologics has signed long-term deals with GSK worth $205 million (2020) and $303 million (2022), spanning eight and over ten years respectively, and in January secured a $1.4 billion contract with a European pharmaceutical company.

Still, its Q1 2025 plant utilization rate stood at 80%, raising questions over whether its current order base can fully support aggressive capacity growth. Strengthening global client acquisition remains a key priority.

“Our stable order flow is driven by quality competitiveness,” a Samsung Biologics spokesperson said. “With flexible capacity and proven quality, we will continue building trust-based relationships with global partners and respond swiftly to production needs.”