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Samsung Electronics is investing $ 10 billion (approximately 11 trillion won) to expand its foundry (semiconductor consignment production) plant (pictured) in Austin, Texas. It is evaluated for the purpose of securing additional US customers, such as Intel, while reviewing Taiwan TSMC, which has decided to build a foundry plant in the US The foundry is a company that produces and supplies products by taking orders for semiconductor companies that don’t have or lack factories like fabless (semiconductor design companies).
Bloomberg News reported on the 22nd that “Samsung Electronics is considering adding a semiconductor production line to Austin by investing more than $ 10 billion.” Currently, in Austin, Samsung Electronics smelting plant, which focuses on the line width of 14 nm (nanometer, 1 nm = 1 billionth of a meter), 28 nm and 32 nm, is in operation.
Bloomberg quoted a person familiar with the related matters as saying, “Samsung Electronics’ goal is to go through a pilot operation in 2022 and start operating in earnest from 2023.” Samsung Electronics is developing 3nm process technology.
The expansion of Samsung Electronics is analyzed in order to curb TSMC, the world’s number one foundry company. TSMC decided to build a new factory in Arizona, USA, with a total investment of 12 billion dollars (about 13 trillion won) last year. The goal will be completed in 2024. A state-of-the-art smelter line of less than 5 nm is expected to be built.
When TSMC’s US plant begins operations, the latest semiconductor outsourcing production from major foundry customers such as Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD is expected to focus on TSMC. Samsung Electronics’ Austin plant mainline is 14 nm. There is a limit to producing the latest APs (application processors). This is the background to the possibility of expanding the 3nm process, a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Bloomberg said: “Samsung is trying to catch up with its Taiwanese rival TSMC.”
Samsung Electronics secured a site for new facilities around the Austin plant. From 2018 to October of last year, it has been acquiring a land of 104,089 square meters with 140 soccer fields. The Austin City Council has also requested approval for the development of the site.
When Samsung Electronics and TSMC complete new factories in the US, competition for semiconductor orders is expected to intensify. The market is expected to grow further as it recently announced that it will expand “outsourced semiconductor production” to Intel, an integrated semiconductor (IDM) company. Samsung Electronics said: “Nothing has been decided yet” regarding the expansion of the factory.
Reporter Hwang Jeong-soo [email protected]
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