Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions Division is preparing to reuse 330,000 tons of treated wastewater a day drawn from public sewage treatment plants serving its Hwaseong, Osan and Suwon sites in Gyeonggi Province, the company said through its Semiconductor Newsroom on 11 September 2026, as reported by 헤럴드경제. The programme is being run jointly with the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy and local governments, and was presented the same week at Korea International Water Week 2026, which opened on 9 September in Daegu.
Key takeaways
- Samsung's chip business is targeting reuse of 330,000 t/day of treated wastewater across Hwaseong, Osan and Suwon, split as 120,000 t/day from Hwaseong and Osan and 210,000 t/day from Suwon, according to 헤럴드경제.
- The project advance-treats discharge from public sewage treatment plants so it can be substituted for industrial water at fabs, with the division saying it is also tightening in-house process-water efficiency, 헤럴드경제 reports.
- Separately, the Jeonnam-Gwangju metropolitan government is restructuring the water-supply plan for the Honam semiconductor cluster so that 200,000 t/day of recycled wastewater forms a primary, not backup, source for an initial 650,000 t/day industrial supply, Seoul Economic Daily reports.
- The Honam cluster plan adds a 300,000 t/day reuse facility, of which 200,000 t/day is committed as a permanent initial volume and 100,000 t/day held as reserve, with 45 billion won earmarked for the Deongnam water treatment plant upgrade, according to Seoul Economic Daily.
What happened
The semiconductor division framed the move as part of a long-running effort to reduce water consumption through process improvements and more efficient equipment, while also purifying and reusing water already consumed at its business sites, 헤럴드경제 reports. The new layer is a public-private scheme in which effluent from municipal sewage plants is advanced-treated to industrial-water specification, then piped to the fabs. The Hwaseong and Osan streams are scheduled to deliver 120,000 t/day and the Suwon stream 210,000 t/day, according to 헤럴드경제.
On the ecosystem side, the division said the quality of its discharged water is strictly managed and pointed to otters returning to the Osancheon stream near one of its sites as evidence of ecological recovery, 헤럴드경제 reports. The company is also working with the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy and the Korea Water Resources Corporation on the Sinpung wetland upstream of Jangheung Dam, returning water resources to nature and improving water quality, according to the same 헤럴드경제 report.
At Korea International Water Week 2026, which opened on 9 September and is hosted by the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, Daegu, the Korea Water Resources Corporation and the Korea Environment Corporation, Samsung used its booth to present its overall water-management approach, covering saving and reuse technology, public-private cooperation on wastewater reuse, and water-quality and ecosystem-conservation activities, 헤럴드경제 reports. "Going forward, we plan to further improve water use efficiency and expand reuse through technological innovation and public-private cooperation, while strengthening a sustainable water management system that also takes into account the nature and ecosystems near our business sites," Samsung Electronics said, as quoted by 헤럴드경제.
The reuse logic is being adopted in parallel at the Honam cluster, where the Jeonnam-Gwangju metropolitan government announced on 17 September 2026 that it has agreed with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix on a 650,000 t/day initial industrial-water supply, made up of 300,000 t/day from Dongbok Dam, 200,000 t/day of recycled wastewater, 100,000 t/day from Naju Dam and 50,000 t/day from Juam Dam, Seoul Economic Daily reports. An additional 410,000 t/day of reserve is being secured, with a permanent supply of 650,000 t/day targeted for 2030, according to the same Seoul Economic Daily report.
Specification read
Restated in buyer units, 330,000 t/day is roughly 330,000 m³/day, or about 330 MLD, of secondary effluent being lifted to industrial-water quality for three Korean fabs; the Hwaseong/Osan tranche alone is about 120 MLD and the Suwon tranche about 210 MLD, as reported by 헤럴드경제. The class of scheme sits between the biological stage and the polishing stage of a municipal works, so the unit operations a buyer should expect on the new line are screening and grit removal, coagulation/clarification, a biological stage such as Mbr Membrane Systems or MBBR/A2O, followed by tertiary filtration, advanced oxidation and disinfection, with the make-up feeding an Integrated Sewage Treatment train at the fab end. The event bears specifically on the municipal-side polishing step, because that is where secondary effluent is converted to a stable industrial water for high-purity fab use; reuse of this scale is generally associated with effluent BOD in the 5–20 mg/L range and COD in the 20–60 mg/L range before polishing, with ammonia, conductivity and silica controlled to fab make-up limits (general industry range, not from the sources). If your plant is a municipal works in the 100–400 m³/day class delivering secondary effluent to a nearby industrial user with strict conductivity, ammonia and TOC limits, this announcement reframes the polishing step from a regulatory nice-to-have into a contracted offtake, and it links the design case for MBR vs Conventional Activated Sludge for Semiconductor Wastewater in Saint Petersburg, FL: 2026 Process Guide directly to a procurement decision. A second 300,000 t/day reuse facility in the Honam cluster adds an obvious second-source opportunity, and the same train logic, including Mbr Membrane Systems and Municipal supply, applies; see also MBR vs Conventional Activated Sludge for Mining Wastewater 2026: Footprint Guide for a related footprint comparison and Samsung to reuse 330,000 t/day of treated wastewater at Korean fabs, Sept 2026 for the related article.
FAQ
What volume of treated wastewater is Samsung committing to reuse, and over what timeline?
330,000 t/day across Hwaseong, Osan and Suwon, with 120,000 t/day from Hwaseong and Osan and 210,000 t/day from Suwon, as reported by 헤럴드경제 on 11 September 2026. The sources do not give a final in-service date for the Gyeonggi scheme.
How much capital is tied up in the parallel Honam cluster reuse facility?
Construction of the 300,000 t/day Honam reuse facility is budgeted at 720 billion won and will be staged, with a permanent 650,000 t/day supply targeted for 2030, according to Seoul Economic Daily. Lead times for the 200,000 t/day permanent block and 100,000 t/day reserve block are not specified.
What treatment stages are needed to turn sewage-plant effluent into fab make-up water?
Class-of-project trains run from screening and grit removal through coagulation/clarification, a biological stage such as MBR or MBBR, then tertiary filtration, advanced oxidation and disinfection; this event bears on the polishing step that turns secondary effluent into industrial water. Specific process selections for Samsung's scheme are not disclosed in the sources.
What does this mean for a municipal plant near a semiconductor cluster?
Effluent that was previously disposed of is being converted into a contracted industrial offtake, which strengthens the business case for advanced polishing, membrane capacity and reuse-pipeline design, and opens a second, similar opportunity at the Honam cluster's 300,000 t/day facility, as reported by Seoul Economic Daily. Cost per cubic metre of reuse capacity is not disclosed in the sources.
