Samsung may be looking to significantly ramp up its chip production, with a possible $200 billion investment in 11 Texas plants.
Samsung is one of the world’s leading chipmakers. The company manufactures its own line of Exynos mobile chips, and provides foundry services to other companies, such as Intel and Qualcomm.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung is now considering the possibility of investing almost $200 billion over the next two decades to build additional semiconductor plants in Texas. The move would be a massive boost to the chip-making industry within the US, and would further boost Texas’ efforts to lure tech companies to the state.
The $50 billion chip manufacturing subsidy bill, currently being considered by Congress, is likely a major factor in Samsung’s decision-making progress. As WSJ points out, other chipmakers are hedging their bets and moving slowly with expansion plans until the bill passes.
“It all boils down to incentives for Samsung to move a big part of their production to the U.S., and even within the U.S., very specific areas,” Wayne Lam, senior director of research at CCS Insight, told WSJ. “Why go to the U.S. when they could do it just as cheaply and with a ready workforce in South Korea?”