The agreement, which runs through 2033, comes as Samsung Biologics continues to expand its large manufacturing footprint in South Korea.
Samsung Biologics has struck a $262 million agreement to provide manufacturing services to a European pharma company.
Under the terms of the deal, the contract manufacturing and development organization (CDMO) will provide manufacturing services from its site in Songdo, South Korea. Samsung Biologics has not shared the name of the customer or details of the product, citing client confidentiality.
The deal features manufacturing commitments extending through 2033, supporting Samsung Biologics’ efforts to fill its expanding biologics production capacity. The four plants at the CDMO’s Bio Campus I in Songdo are at full capacity, Samsung Biologics CFO Seungho Ryu said on a call with investors last month.
Samsung Biologics opened a fifth plant, the first established at Bio Campus II in Songdo, in April 2025. The plant, which cost 1.9 trillion South Korean won ($1.4 billion), is “progressing through its ramp-up as scheduled,” Ryu said.
The company plans to build another three plants at Bio Campus II by 2032. Once completed, Bio Campus II will have 720 kL of manufacturing capacity—more than the 605 kL at the original site. Samsung Biologics currently has 785 kL of capacity across its five plants in Songdo, plus 60 kL at the Rockville, Maryland, site that was acquired from GSK this year.
Ryu dismissed concerns that continued capacity expansion could weaken utilization of the CDMO’s sites. Samsung Biologics expects “the market supply-demand utilization rate to increase from the mid-70% range in 2026 to the low-80% range in 2030,” Ryu said. The forecast indicates that the market is expected to remain undersupplied, he added.
Further expansion is planned. Samsung Biologics has secured land for Bio Campus III, a new location that it plans to build on from 2027 to 2034. Needing to fund the expansion and its takeover of PolyPeptide, Samsung Biologics recently announced a 3 trillion South Korean won ($2.2 billion) rights offering.
Buying PolyPeptide will give Samsung Biologics peptide production capacity, expanding the company into a sector that is growing amid surging demand for GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and obesity. In the near term, Samsung Biologics is focused on completing the PolyPeptide takeover and integrating the acquired sites but is open to striking additional deals.
Samsung Biologics continues to review “strategic investment opportunities to secure new modalities, overseas manufacturing sites and technologies as we seek to further strengthen our position as a global top-tier CDMO,” Ryu said.
