Samsung is reportedly considering spending $10 billion to build a new chip manufacturing plant in Texas. This is according to sources with Bloomberg, which noted that the investment could help the Korean electronics giant catch up with the world’s most successful and cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing company, TSMC.
“The world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker is in discussions to locate a facility in Austin, Texas, capable of fabricating chips as advanced as 3 nanometers in the future,” Bloomberg’s sources said. “Plans are preliminary and subject to change but for now the aim is to kick off construction this year, install major equipment from 2022, then begin operations as early as 2023.”
“If Samsung really wants to realize its goal to become the top chipmaker by 2030, it needs massive investment in the U.S. to catch up with TSMC,” said Greg Roh, senior vice president at HMC Securities. “TSMC is likely to keep making progress in process nodes to 3nm at its Arizona plant and Samsung may do the same. One challenging task is to secure EUV equipment now, when Hynix and Micron are also seeking to purchase the machines.”
TSMC announced that it would be building a semiconductor fab in Arizona back in May 2020. The facility, which will leverage the company’s 5-nanometer technology, is expected to produce 20,000 semiconductor wafers per month and create over 1,600 jobs.