Samsung to invest billions more in Central Texas From the cover
What’s happening?
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the project stands to total at least $45 billion. The investment will be transformative for the entire region, federal o cials said, adding that more than two dozen manufacturing suppliers have already committed to coming to the area. An early indication of the Samsung e ect, iMarket America—a South Korea-based industrial maintenance and repair company—recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Round Rock. The company also purchased 200 acres of land in Taylor for its maintenance services. “I can just say the best part about it is all the jobs we’re creating for Americans in the process—good- paying, family-supporting jobs,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said.
Samsung’s new 4 million-square-foot semiconductor manufacturing plant is under construction on just over 1,200 acres in Taylor. With the help of CHIPS funding, plans for the site now include a second fabrication facility, a research and development center, and an advanced packaging facility. Samsung will also use the funding for a facility expansion in Austin. “This is the epicenter of the technology revolution, the likes of which we have not seen since the Manhattan Project,” U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said during the announcement. This agreement brings Samsung’s total local investment to more than double the $17 billion initially committed by the company in 2021, when the project in Taylor was rst announced. Today
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Samsung — Taylor, TX CHIPS Act incentive: $6.4 billion Project investment: $45 billion Project size: 1,268 acres Project scope: 2 fabs, 1 R&D fab, 1 advanced packaging facility
SOURCE: SAMSUNG COMMUNITY IMPACT
The framework
The impact
What is the CHIPS and Science Act? A bipartisan piece of legislation aimed at bolstering American semiconductor manufacturing and research by providing funding to tech companies.
Samsung’s project will support over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region, according to a statement from the White House. With the recent investment into semiconductor production in the U.S., the county is expected to see a 25% increase in demand for both technicians without four-year degrees and highly educated engineers by 2030, according to the SIA. In an e ort to meet this demand, Samsung has built relationships with higher education institutions, such as Austin Community College, The University of Texas and Texas State Technical College’s Hutto campus. Laura Marmolejo, ACC associate dean of advanced manufacturing, said the school has worked with Samsung to develop speci c certi ca- tion programs tailored to the needs of the company. “The biggest challenge is getting the students. Students don’t know that the industry is really exciting nowadays,” she said.
Since the 1990s, the percentage of semicon- ductors, or chips, produced in the U.S. has decreased. A bipartisan initiative, the CHIPS and Science Act was introduced to address this heavy reliance on foreign manufacturing. “From where I sit as the chairman of the Foreign A airs Committee, this is vitally important to our national security,” McCaul said. “The reason I introduced [this bill] was to pull the supply chain out of Taiwan, which controls 90% of the advanced semiconductor manufacturing, and bring it here to the United States.” Being able to produce this level of cut- ting-edge technology within America is more important than ever, Raimondo said, highlight- ing the rapidly increasing demand for arti cial intelligence, high-performance computing and 5G communications. Advancements in semiconductor technology have enabled the chips found in today’s smart- phones to surpass the processing power of computers used by NASA to land a man on the moon in 1969, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, or SIA. Samsung’s plan to build a research and development facility in Taylor will enable them to begin production of 2-nanometer chips, the latest advancement in chip technol- ogy. The smaller transistors on chips result in lower energy consumption and higher speeds, according to industry experts. “All of that is how we put a stake in the
Funding given for American semiconductor manufacturing expansions since 2022
Intel: $19.5B • Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio
TSMC: $11.6B • Arizona
Samsung: $6.4B • Texas
GlobalFoundries: $3B • New York
Other: $209.5M
SOURCE: SIA COMMUNITY IMPACT
ground and we tell the world that America cares about semiconductor manufacturing,” said Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House O ce of Science and Technology Policy. “That commitment by America is why Samsung is growing right here in Central Texas. … The investments that come from this CHIPS Act are not just about winning today; they’re also about winning tomorrow.”
Samsung jobs created based on recent announcement: Over 20,000 total jobs direct and indirect 17,000 construction jobs 4,500 manufacturing jobs
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE COMMUNITY IMPACT
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