Samsung’s Texas fabs are evidently going to be the beneficiary of CHIPS Act subsidies.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced that $6.4 billion will be sent to a Texas Samsung facility to bolster the supply chain of semiconductors.
The multi-billion dollar investment is part of a larger $40 billion dollar federal funding agreement as part of the CHIPS and Science Act.
As a White House press release states, the investment aims to “cement central Texas’s role as a state-of-the-art semiconductor ecosystem, creating at least 21,500 jobs and leveraging up to $40 million in CHIPS funding to train and develop the local workforce.”
This investment would be used at both the research and development facilities in Taylor and the expansion of the fabrication factory in Austin.
The Taylor facility isn’t just an R&D site, it’s a full-blown state-of-the-art fab, and they could start running the line as early as July. The chips Samsung will be producing are planned to be on their 4 nanometer node.
The City of Austin has previously identified semiconductor production as part of its Opportunity Austin economic expansion plan where the city sees itself as a “top global destination for businesses and investment.”
“We’re not just expanding production facilities; we’re strengthening the local semiconductor ecosystem and positioning the U.S. as a global semiconductor manufacturing destination,” said Kye Hyun Kyung, president and CEO of the Device Solutions (DS) Division at Samsung Electronics.
“To meet the expected surge in demand from U.S. customers, for future products like AI chips, our fabs will be equipped for cutting-edge process technologies and help advance the security of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain.”
As I’ve written before, semiconductor subsidies are the wrong solution for the wrong problem (especially if the Biden Administration demands Samsung pledge fealty to social justice before sucking the taxpayers teat). But if you are going to subsidize someone, and your goal is more cutting edge American fabs, then Samsung isn’t the worst recipient. Their fab tech is either second third best (depending on whether intel has actually gotten their act together or not) in the world behind TSMC, and 4nm is good enough for just about every fab customer in the world, save Apple (who is TSMC’s alpha customer), Intel (yes, Intel gets some of their cutting edge chips fabbed at TSMC), AMD, and a few others. Technical details here, assuming the difference between FinFET and GAAFET doesn’t make your eyes glaze over.
But the American taxpayer might rightly question why they’re being asked to subsidize the twenty-first largest company in the world, and one headquartered in South Korea.
Once again, the Biden Administration is taking money from the poor to give to the rich.
Tags: Austin, Samsung, Semiconductors, South Korea, subsidies, Taylor, technology, Texas
Anyone expecting the Biden administration to do anything, anything at all that actually does any one on our side any good whatsoever…?
Y’all are delusional, and should not be left to your own devices, out of doors. You’re a menace to yourself and others, and should not be allowed the vote.
Does Texas have the water to support semiconductor production on this scale?
Chip factories of this capacity need 20,000 – 100,000 tons of high quality water every day of operation.
“Does Texas have the water to support semiconductor production on this scale?”
Taylor should. They get a good amount of water there. West Texas is desert, but East Texas is a swamp. Taylor is kind of in the middle. Go further east and the problem is frequently too much water, not too little. (Tyler might be a better location than Taylor if water is a concern.)
Sighs (puts hand over eyes, mutters “oh jeez, he’s gonna start about field effect transistors…)
“Wether Intel has actually gotten their act together” – https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/diversity/diversity-at-intel.html
[…] POLICY: Samsung Snags $6.4 Billion For Texas Fabs. “As I’ve written before, semiconductor subsidies are the wrong solution for the wrong […]
There is zero possibility a single wafer will come out of the Taylor FAB before Q4 ’25
BDS is delighted that Samsung Next has abandoned multiple start-ups in Israel. https://bdsmovement.net/news/samsung-next-withdraws-from-israel
Do you suppose this is the quid pro quo for securing the Texas contract?