TRAVIS E. POLING Special to the Press
The construction of Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s advanced silicon chip fabrication plant in Taylor pumped about $66 million into the Central Texas economy last year, mostly from construction jobs, taxes paid and workers buying taxable goods.
In all, the Samsung commissioned study estimates a total economic impact on the Central Texas economy of $13.6 billion, including operations from the fully operational Austin fabrication silicon-chip plants.
That’s according to a report by Austin-based economic research and analysis firm Impact DataSource,
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What they (Samsung Austin Semiconductor) are doing in Taylor is banking on their future.”
-Dave Porter, executive director, Williamson Country Economic Development Partnership which conducted the study for the local subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
The study was based on taxes to local governments, construction worker salaries and payroll for permanent workers in Austin, the Taylor site and another office in Pflugerville. It also included construction projects and workers for other companies, such as Samsung suppliers. “In 2022, the Samsung Austin Semiconductor campus on Parmer Lane (in Austin) and construction at the $17 billion Taylor facility injected $13.6 billion into the Central Texas economy while supporting over $1 billion in workers’ salaries,” Jon Taylor, corporate vice president of Fab Engineering, said in a written statement.
Most of the impact of the Taylor facility comes from 4,643 direct and indirect construction jobs with a total payroll in 2022 of $102 million. Salaries for 2,161 direct and indirect permanent operational jobs related to the Taylor fab plant added another $32 million circulating in the Central Texas economy.
By comparison, the fully operational Austin facilities and associated companies represented 14,312 permanent jobs with a payroll last year of $912.5 million.
Construction workers on the project spent nearly $20 million on goods subject to sales tax in Taylor last year, according to data gathered by Impact DataSource. The Taylor sales tax earns the city 2% of those expenditures back from the state, putting $398,113 into city coffers.
Permanent workers related to the job site spent $6.35 million in Taylor for a sales tax return of another $127,103.
While there are major tax breaks for the company on its 1,200acre site, the company is still paying a portion of the property taxes to Taylor, Taylor Independent School District and Williamson County. That figure will increase over time.
Because of the larger number of permanent employees and mature tax agreements for the Austin facilities, that campus had a greater impact on Austin and Travis County budgets. The study also included the estimated value of property tax paid by Samsung and related company workers on their own homes.
As more permanent workers — at least 1,800 over the next decade — are hired for the Taylor site, the economic impact is expected to have an even bigger ripple effect in Williamson County.
The foundry is expected to start operations next year.
“They’re just getting started. The economic impact is going to get even bigger” throughout the region, said Dave Porter, executive director of the Williamson Country Economic Development Partnership. “What they are doing in Taylor is banking on their future.”
The chip fabrication plant in Taylor will start making a new generation of advanced chips when operations start late next year. While the Austin campus is expected to expand in the coming decades, anticipated demand for the new semiconductors could mean even more fabrication plants on the Taylor sites — possibly nine or more.
Economic development agreements are already in place for that eventuality with the city, Taylor Independent School District and county.
Suppliers are making their way from South Korea to Central Texas and multiplying economic impact, while unrelated manufacturing companies have taken notice of Williamson and other counties surrounding Travis County because of Samsung’s Taylor investment, Porter said.
The county and city have also established a kind of trade mission with South Korea, with the state’s help. Meanwhile, several ancillary businesses that will supply Samsung are springing up in Hutto and Georgetown.
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Construction at the $17 billion Taylor facility injected $13.6 billion into the Central Texas economy while supporting over $1 billion in workers’ salaries.”
-Jon Taylor, Fab Engineering
Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s Taylor chipmaking facility, which will be operational next year, is already contributing to the local economy, according to a report commissioned by the South Korean-based technology giant.
Photo by Jason Hennington
