BY HALEY MCLEOD
Life of a chip
A semiconductor chip resembles a miniature city, where electrical signals navigate data through electrical conduits like people navigate through roads and bridges.
The consumer will then buy the resulting products from these companies that include the semiconductor chips that make these technologies work. These items include: • Smartphones • TVs • home appliances • LED lights • credit cards • subway systems • cars • automatic doors • medical equipment medical equipment
The newly tted chips are then sold to a wide range of consumer product manufacturers, including tech giants like Apple and Dell, as well as automotive companies and other companies that integrate technology into their products.
Silicon, the main ingredient used to make semiconductors, undergoes a sophisticated manufacturing process upon arrival at a fabrication plant, resulting in a tiny chip.
These small chips are then sent to a packaging facility where they are molded into the desired shape for the intended product.
Only about 3% of semiconductor chips produced globally are currently packaged in the U.S., according to Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
More than 1 trillion chips
Today’s chip components range from 2 3 nanometers . In comparison,
3Mnm
sold last year, stacked on top of each other, would reach airplane ying altitude.
typical garden ants range from 3 million to 5 million nm long.
SOURCE: SIA, ASML COMMUNITY IMPACT
PHOTOS COURTESY ADOBE STOCK
Looking ahead
“We really need to make sure that we’re considering the workforce,” Gamboa said. “All those people are going to need places to live, their kids are going to need schools and they’re going to need things to do for family activities.” Mick Hawton, of commercial real estate rm Headwater, said municipalities and developers will have to work together to navigate the uptick in real estate activity. “There’s going to be this ongoing e ect of workforce and opportunity, and the infrastructure that supports that is going to have to be managed and addressed,” Hawton said.
Once at the forefront of economic activity in the county as a railroad town, Taylor nds itself at the precipice of technological advancement, Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell said. “Now with Samsung, we’re poised to become a real global player in the world of semiconductors,” Rydell said. Cheney Gamboa, Hutto economic development director, said several supplier companies are expressing interest in land near Taylor in Hutto—something she calls the “ripple e ect.” Although, the increased growth could come with challenges, she said.
July: Production Facility 1 to become operational Production Facility 1 to be available for full-scale production CHIPS and Science Act signed into law Samsung began construction on Fab 1 Production Facility 2 with research center and packaging facility operational
2022
2024
2026
2027
2028
Austin Samsung facility expansion to begin
SOURCE: U.S. WHITE HOUSE COMMUNITY IMPACT
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