The Taylor plant will cost 17 billion dollars. Among other things, it is planned to manufacture chips for the 5G mobile communications standard.
Much has been written in recent months about the shortage of semiconductor and computer chips. The lack of components slowed down entire industries and demonstrated to the public how vulnerable international supply chains can be.
In order to minimize these risks in the future, countries such as the USA are making efforts to build their own chip factories. And they are doing so quite successfully: As was announced on Wednesday night, the Texas city of Taylor has been awarded the contract to build such a plant. The factory planned by the South Korean company Samsung will cost 17 billion US dollars. Among other things, chips for the new mobile communications standard 5G will be manufactured there.
Other cities also applied as potential sites. One of the factors in Taylor’s favor was its proximity to the Texas capital Austin, where Samsung already operates a semiconductor factory.
Operations are scheduled to start in the second half of 2024, so the factory will not be able to alleviate the current chip shortage, which will extend well into next year according to the bank JPMorgan.
Photo: iStock/gorodenkoff
