Samsung Electronics is considering spending more than $10 billion to build its most advanced logic chip manufacturing plant in the United States. The company hopes that this major investment will win more US customers and help it catch up with the industry leader TSMC. According to insiders, Samsung is studying to build a factory in Austin, Texas. The factory will focus on producing 3nm chips. This will be the most advanced manufacturing process at the time.
The current plan is only a preliminary plan and may change in the future. The goal is to start construction this year, install major equipment from 2022, and start operations as early as 2023. According to reports, although the amount of investment may change, Samsung’s plan will mean providing more than $10 billion in funding for the project.
Samsung’s major competitor in the chip market is Taiwanese manufacturer, TSMC. Samsung’s rival is also building a chip plant in Arizona which has close proximity to Texas. This means that both Samsung and TSMC are working hard for the U.S market.
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TSMC is making progress in its Arizona 5nm factory
The United States government has always wanted the world’s largest chipmaker, TSMC, to build an advanced process factory on U.S. soil. With all the support that the U.S. government is willing to provide, this will become reality soon. According to a recent report, TSMC has made progress in building a 5nm plant in the United States. Furthermore, the chipmaker has decided on the candidates for the new US plant director and preliminary management team.
According to insiders, the factory director will be the current TSMC technical director Wu Yihuang. In fact, Mr. Wu has already commenced work ahead of 2021 when the plant hopes to commence construction. Regarding this report, TSMC stated that it is actively preparing for its plant construction plan in the United States. However, it denies any progress in terms of the final plant construction decision. According to the company, it has no update on the plant construction plan.
In May of this year, TSMC announced that it intends to build and operate an advanced wafer fab in the United States under the common understanding and commitment support of the US federal government and Arizona.
TSMC said that the plant to be set up in Arizona will use the company’s 5nm process technology to produce semiconductor chips, with a planned monthly production capacity of 20,000 wafers. TSMC said that the fab will start construction in 2021 and mass production will begin in 2024. From 2021 to 2029, TSMC’s expenditures (including capital expenditures) on this project are approximately $12 billion.
