Samsung to expand semiconductor production in Texas

2024-05-22 18:42:00, Tech CNA

President Biden's administration last month announced a $6.4 billion subsidy to support South Korean tech giant Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing subsidiary in Texas. As Voice of America correspondent Deana Mitchell reports, this development means big changes for the city of Taylor, in central Texas.

At first glance, the town of Taylor looks like many other small Texas towns. But on the outskirts, along the busy highway, tech giant Samsung has put 10,000 people to work around the clock building a new semiconductor manufacturing facility that will be twice the size of its main Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea. South. "We have been in economic decline for 50 years and this venture is reviving the economy. I am very pleased with the role my community is playing in international defense. "It's very important that the manufacturing of microprocessors for semiconductors is done again in the United States, we faced a lot of shortages during the Covid period and many of the shortages in the supply chain affected the reduction of their quantity", says Tia Rae Stone, President of the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce.

The Samsung branch opened in this city in early 2022. President Biden's administration announced last month a subsidy of 6.4 billion dollars to finance the project. On the other hand, the Samsung company is expected to increase its initial investment of 17 billion dollars to 40 billion over the next few years.

Brandt Rydell runs the town of 16,000 people.

"For many years, our city was valued at very little, less than $1 billion. And when a company intended to invest 17 billion dollars, that was really surprising," says the mayor.

As we walk through the city, the mayor points to a popular sports park, a car dealership, but also many abandoned buildings.
Racquel Torres, who has a flower shop on "Main" street, says that the expected economic boom is not happening so quickly for those who have rented premises to exercise their business activity.

"It's good that Samsung is coming to town, but not now. Right now we are not feeling the positive effects. Business values ??have increased, and so have property taxes. Therefore, rents have become more expensive and this is forcing some businesses to close," she says.

Sungeun Naomi Kim is waiting for new customers. She is trying her luck in Taylor City, after a call from her parents in South Korea, who received information about the construction of Samsung's new factory from the local media. She opened the first Korean restaurant in the city, named "Taylor Seoul Food", where most of the customers are local residents, curious to try the food.

“They had never tried Korean food before. And the only thing that comes to mind is spicy food, but it's not like that. Korean cuisine also features sweet and savory food," she says.

Ryan and Alecia Davenport own the "Coffee House" cafe.

"To see the downtown area have so many businesses like this, or others next to each other, I think it's something very good and I believe that Samsung will have a positive impact in this direction," says Ryan Davenport.

The University of Texas at Austin will open the Taylor campus next to the facility that will be built by the Samsung company as well as the city's high school. The Institute for Electronics of this university is seeking cooperation in the research field with partners in the semiconductor industry, including Samsung./ VOA