Samsung is set to lay out $23 billion building anew semiconductor manufacturing plant in Texas with the locals now concerned whether the local electricity Company can service the plant because they already have two bitcoin mining facilities chewing up energy.
When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made the announcement that Samsung had chosen a small town in Texas for its next facility, the governor received several questions about the Texas power grid handling the company’s expansion.
Samsung has chosen the site for its new computer chip plant, amid a global shortage of semiconductors and the exit from China of several global Companies who want to minimise risk.
It is the South Korean electronics giant’s biggest-ever US investment.
The plant is expected to create 2,000 technology industry jobs, with construction starting early next year.
“With greater manufacturing capacity, we will be able to better serve the needs of our customers and contribute to the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain,” Kinam Kim, chief executive of Samsung electronics device solutions said.
The plant is expected to be operational by the second half of 2024.
It comes as US President Joe Biden has been pushing chip giants to increase their production in the US.
White House officials said the new facility would help “protect our supply chains, revitalise our manufacturing base and create good jobs”.
“Increasing domestic production of semiconductor chips is critical for our national and economic security,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said separately.
Samsung is joining rivals TSMC and Intel in the race to expand chip contract manufacturing in the United States, where the sector is seen as an area of strategic competition with China.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has promised billions of dollars in federal funding to boost chip manufacturing and research to ensure it has an edge over China in advanced technologies and to address shortages for critical industries like autos.
