Bulletins

Samsung is reportedly considering building a $10B Texas chipmaking facility

The foundry in Austin would be capable of manufacturing chips on the next-generation 3-nanometer standard, Bloomberg reported based on anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Samsung responded to Bloomberg's inquiry, claiming the company has not made a decision. The sources also claim Samsung has hired lobbyists in an attempt to secure financial incentives for the project from the Biden administration.

Both Samsung and rival chipmaker TSMC aim to start volume production of 3-nm chips by 2022. They are already two of the most advanced global foundry makers, able to turn out chips on the 5-nm standard that companies such as Intel and SMIC have been unable to match. Samsung plans to invest $116 billion in its chipmaking business as part of a plan to overtake TSMC as the industry leader within the next two years, Bloomberg reported in November 2020.

By building a facility in Texas, Samsung would accommodate a shift in U.S. policy to encourage domestic advanced chip manufacturing and counter the economic rise of China. In May 2020, TSMC announced plans to take advantage of U.S. subsidies and build a $12 billion foundry in Arizona by 2024.

Hirsh Chitkara

Hirsh Chitkara ( @HirshChitkara) is a reporter at Protocol focused on the intersection of politics, technology and society. Before joining Protocol, he helped write a daily newsletter at Insider that covered all things Big Tech. He's based in New York and can be reached at hchitkara@protocol.com.

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Bulletins