Samsung to build $17 billion chip factory in Texas

Samsung Electronics is definitely going to build a chip factory in Texas, specifically in the city of Taylor. It is an estimated investment of $17 billion. That is the largest single investment Samsung has made in the US to date.

Samsung says the new factory will make products for applications in a variety of areas, such as the mobile sector, 5G, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. The company said it would expand production capacity and could “contribute to the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.”

The Taylor plant is planned to be operational from the second half of 2024. The site will cover approximately 5 million square meters and, according to Samsung, together with the new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, will make an important contribution to global chip manufacturing capacity. The plant is expected to create 2,000 highly skilled technology jobs and thousands of other jobs. Earlier this year, there were rumors that Samsung was considering building a 3nm chip factory in Texas.

For the construction of the factory, Samsung looked at several locations in the US and South Korea. The company now chooses Taylor based on multiple factors. A not unimportant factor that the company mentions is the proximity of Samsung’s already existing factory in Austin. That town is about 15 miles from Taylor; this means that the two locations can share the necessary infrastructure, among other things. Another factor that probably also played an important role is tax benefits that Taylor was able to provide.

This expansion of Samsung’s manufacturing capacity follows a US commitment to invest up to $52 billion in US chip production. A lobby group of chip companies has already called on the White House to invest billions in the American chip sector. The European Commission also wants to focus on chip production within Europe to reduce dependence on chip production in Asia.