Bloomberg: To catch up with TSMC, Samsung may spend $10 billion to build high-end chips in the United States

According to Bloomberg, Samsung Electronics is considering investing more than $10 billion to build its most advanced logic chip manufacturing plant in the United States. Samsung Electronics hopes to win more American customers and catch up with industry leader TSMC through this major investment.

Samsung is in talks to build a factory in Austin, Texas, that could make advanced 3-nanometer chips in the future, people familiar with the matter said. The plans are just beginning and could change, but the current goal is to start construction this year, install major equipment starting in 2022 and then start operations as early as 2023, they said. While the investment amount could fluctuate, Samsung's plan would mean funding the project for more than $10 billion, one of the people said.

The envisioned plant would be Samsung’s first to use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, the people said. Asked about plans to build a plant in the United States, Samsung said in an email that no decision had been made.

“If Samsung really wants to achieve its goal of becoming a top chipmaker by 2030, it needs to make significant investments in the U.S. to catch up with TSMC,” said Greg Roh, senior vice president at HMC Securities. “TSMC is likely to continue to increase the process node progress to 3nm in its Arizona plant, and Samsung is likely to do the same.”