Samsung said it would spend $17 billion over the next three years to develop a semiconductor fab in Texas to boost its production capacity in the United States at a time when chips are in short supply around the world. The plant will be built in Taylor, Texas, just outside of the state capital of Austin, according to the world’s top memory chip vendor and second-largest contract chip manufacturer. The Samsung fab will produce logic chips using “advanced process technologies” found in mobile phones, 5G networks, data centers, and artificial intelligence (A.I.).
The declaration comes as the U.S. government prioritizes recovering domestic chip manufacturing during a shortfall that has lasted nearly a year. Snarled chip supply chains have wreaked havoc on industries ranging from automobiles to consumer electronics, creating delays in product delivery and higher prices for consumers. The disparity has highlighted how critical semiconductors are to the U.S. economy.
The plant’s construction is set to begin in the first half of 2022, with mass production beginning in late 2024, so it won’t help with the challenges that have caused delays in the production of vehicles and consumer electronics. However, Samsung is one of the few semiconductor companies willing to invest in cutting-edge process technology.
It’s also one of the top contract chip foundries globally, producing chips based on blueprints created by other companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia. The company previously stated that it would begin shipping chips based on its 3-nm node in 2022, followed by the 2-nm node in 2025.
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