U.S. gives Samsung $6.4B for plant
New Texas factory to produce advanced computer chips
WASHINGTON — Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, will receive $6.4 billion toward developing advanced computer chips at the semiconductor plant it’s building in Central Texas, the Biden administration announced Monday.
The deal comes as the federal government is distributing tens of billions of dollars for the construction of computer chip plants in the United States, an effort aimed at reducing the nation’s increasing dependence on supply chains running through Asia.
In a statement Monday, President Joe Biden said the funding would “cement central Texas’ role as a state-of-the-art semiconductor ecosystem.”
“These facilities will support the production of some of the most powerful chips in the world, which are essential to advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and will bolster U.S. national security,” he said.
Samsung has now committed to spending $40 billion on the plant it is building in Taylor, with plans for a second factory by the end of the decade and a new research center.
Congress passed the CHIPS Act in 2022 along bipartisan lines, offering U.S. and foreign chip manufacturers up to $39 billion in subsidies for building plants in the the U.S.
The administration last week announced $6.6 billion in funding for Taiwan-based chip company TSMC to expand a plant in Arizona.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, cheered the Samsung announcement as helping “the U.S. reclaim its leadership role in the critically important semiconductor industry.”
“I look forward to seeing more Texas-led advancements in the years to come,” he said in a statement.