Taylor plant on track despite slowdown reports
The massive investment to build a semiconductor chip foundry in Taylor is still on track for late next year — more than a year later than initial projections — and create 3,500 permanent jobs.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., like many manufacturers in the U.S. and overseas, is facing various economic challenges as customers try to make decisions based on the on-again, off-again trade war launched early this month by President Donald Trump.
South Korean business publication The Elec initially reported that Samsung’s Taylor plant was facing another delay pushing production into 2027. The online news outlet later changed its article, saying Samsung officials gave assurances that everything was still good for 2026.
Samsung Austin Semiconductor spokeswoman Michele Glaze said Friday, “We are targeting operations by the end of 2026.”
Some permanent staff have already been hired to get the facility ready, company officials said.
The complexity and precision needed to manufacture advanced semiconductors means a long period of training on tools and technology and perfecting processes even after construction is completed and equipment installed, they added.
Despite the delay from a late 2024 operational date, contractual goals are still being met to receive property-tax breaks from Williamson County, the city of Taylor and the Taylor Independent School District.
A new class of paid interns from Taylor High School and Legacy Early College High School, part of the semiconductor maker’s deal with the school district, starts this summer at both the established Austin location and the Taylor site still under construction.
A spokesman for the city did not respond to an email this week asking for information about any updates Taylor officials may have received from Samsung.
“It’s hard to make decisions unless there’s certainty,” said Dave Porter, CEO of the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership. “Then when there is certainty, what are the rules of engagement?”
Porter said businesses grappling with those questions mean ripples throughout supply chains, which have caused some companies looking to set up operations in Williamson County to delay decisions until trade issues stabilize with or without tariffs going forward.
“Samsung is committed to Taylor. It’s just a matter of the chip market coming back,” Porter said.
The company initially said it would be operational in late 2024, but market forces and other factors delayed that timetable.
One of the challenges for many advanced chip research and manufacturing companies is making the transition to produce even smaller semiconductors to feed the gluttonous processing demand of artificial intelligence.
While the Austin location makes chips as small as 7 nanometers for use in many consumer electronics, the Taylor foundry was initially tasked with making cutting-edge 4-nanometer chips.
Future demand, however, is now seen to be even greater for the 3- and 2-nanometer semiconductor chips. Research to manufacture them is critical because entire batches can be rendered unusable with the tiniest error.
Late last year, Samsung scaled back the amount it planned to spend on expanding the Austin campus and building out the Taylor facility in the coming years to $35 million from the previous $45 million.
Some local observers said it seems like there are fewer construction workers around town and fewer corporate South Korean workers visiting shops and restaurants.
However, the various phases of construction on the massive project cause the number of workers to ebb and flow, company officials have said.
On a visit earlier this month to Louie Mueller Barbecue, Porter said the entire air-conditioned backroom was full of South Korean workers with Samsunglabeled apparel.
In November 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott and Samsung officials announced a $17 billion investment by the global firm to build in southwest Taylor. The federal CHIPS Act has also provided incentives to lure more chipmakers to the United States.
