Samsung spends $1 billion to strengthen US chip production
Making the chips that sit inside our smartphones, tablets and cars is a big business, and one that’s only getting bigger. Samsung is looking to take advantage of that by spending a further $1 billion on its Texas-based semiconductor facility. That cash is intended to increase Samsung’s ability to produce integrated systems on a chip like its Exynos-branded SoCs that reside inside mobile devices.
The Austin American Statesman quotes Catherine Morse, Samsung’s local general counsel, saying that the move will create more jobs. The executive believes that the firm will seek to employ a further 250 – 500 people in the expanded factory when its upgrades are finalized. That should be completed by mid-2017 and serves as a rare boost for Austin’s now-shrinking chip-making economy.
It’s also a sign that Samsung is looking to go it alone when taking on its global rivals in the chip manufacture wars. Its closest rivals are arguably TSMC, which produces the bulk of the chips for the iPhone, and Qualcomm, which recently announced that it would purchase NXP Semiconductor for $47 billion.
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