Samsung Considers Colossal $200B Investment In 11 Texas Fabs As CHIPS Act Vote Advances
Samsung has shared a massive spending proposal with the Texas Controller's office that could see the South Korean electronics giant invest $200 billion over the next couple of decades on a dozen new chip manufacturing plants. Interestingly enough, the proposal comes shortly ahead of a key vote on the US CHIPS Act that's already been approved in the Senate.
None of this means that Samsung will go through with its proposal, at least not in its entirely. Samsung recently announced it was spending around $17 billion to build a plant in Taylor, Texas, that it claims will have a $50 billion impact on the local economy. It's slated to be operational by the end of 2024.
"We currently do not have specific plans to build at this time, however, the Chapter 313 applications to the state of Texas are part of a long-term planning process of Samsung to evaluate the viability of potentially building additional fabrication plants in the United States," Samsung spokesperson Michelle Glaze said in a statement to Austin Amercian-Statesman.
However, recently published Chapter 313 applications indicate that Samsung is at least considering an additional $192.1 billion investment on 11 other fab sites, including two new chip plants at its existing Northeast Austin campus and nine others in Taylor.
According to The Wall Street Journal, one possible reason for the bevy of filings is because a state incentive program that offers property tax breaks for 10 years for large investments, is about to expire. These filings don't actually commit Samsung to building anything, but apparently would allow it to take advantage of those tax breaks if it decided to do so.
Samsung submitted the filings towards the end of May, and they were published this week. Several of the filings indicate that production on some of the sites could be up and running no sooner than 2034. So what this all boils down to is a potential long term investment, assuming Samsung pulls the trigger on any or all of the proposals.
This would be an enormous move by Samsung, and one that would have a huge impact on both Texas and US chip production in general. At present, Samsung operates seven fab sites, including three located in South Korea, two more in Austin, Texas, and two in China.
Semiconductor companies have been committing to big investments as the industry at large looks to recover from a chip shortage. Companies like Intel and TSMC have announced billions of dollars on new and upgraded fab sites, though committing to 11 sites in the US in one fell swoop would be a first.
