The Biden administration is giving Samsung $6.4 billion to help build massive new semiconductor chip plants in central Texas, the latest in a series of investments that the government hopes will transform the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Samsung itself is expected to invest $40 billion in the project, which will build new plants in Taylor, Texas, which is northeast of Austin, and expand the company's existing plant in Austin. The tiny chips will be used in technology that's needed for everything from artificial intelligence, to medical devices like pacemakers.
President Biden visited the company's Pyeongtaek campus in South Korea two years ago. The new Texas plants will include facilities dedicated to research and development, and will have the ability to not only manufacture the chips, but package them, too. Many chips that are made in the U.S. still have to get sent to Taiwan to get packaged.
"We're saying for the first time ever, Samsung can conduct in the United States of America core research and development, support the future and manufacturing at scale and advanced packaging all in Texas," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on a conference call.
She described the facilities Samsung is building as "massive" — the first one will be the size of 11 football fields.
The White House estimated that the new plants will create 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs. But it will take until the end of the decade for all the plants to be fully functional.
Officials also said it will make an impact on national security, because the investments including commitments from Samsung to manufacture semiconductor chips directly for the U.S. Department of Defense.
"It will boost our production capacity for chips in critical U.S. industries, including aerospace, defense and autos. And in doing so, will bolster our national security," Lael Brainard, Biden's top economic adviser, told reporters.
Officials said the investment, which comes from the CHIPS and Science Act President Biden signed into law in 2022, is their final major announcement on Biden's plans to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States.
Earlier this year, Biden announced grants to Taiwanese company TSMC for a large manufacturing project in Arizona, and U.S. company Intel for plants in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon.
