But this new factory won’t be chipping in for a few years
Amidst the many economic threads of the current pandemic story that’s still being written, Samsung is adding to the subplot by announcing that it will invest $17 billion in building a new semiconductor foundry in Texas.
The site will be located in the city of Taylor, about 25 miles northeast of Samsung’s existing semiconductors headquarters in Austin (seen above). A groundbreaking is set for sometime in the first half of next year and operations could rev up in the second half of 2024. Production will be focused on mobile application processors, 5G cellular modems, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence.
Once complete, the site is expected to generate 2,000 jobs directly and support thousands more in relation. Samsung has also obliged to fund a program for education and training for the Taylor Independent School District with some recruitment opportunities for students.
The state of Texas is providing more than $27 million in job creation grants. KVUE-TV reports Samsung has also applied for $314 million in tax breaks over 10 years.
For its part, Samsung aims to increase its competitiveness against dominant chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company as demand spikes, production bottlenecks, and shipping slowdowns have exacerbated a global chip shortage which has spread from graphics cards to most consumer silicon, including smartphones. In addition to producing its own Exynos mobile chipsets, it’s also contracted to Qualcomm for making Snapdragon SoCs. Most recently, it assisted Google in designing the Tensor GS101 chipset seen in the Pixel 6 series of devices.
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