Samsung Investing $4 Billion in Austin, Texas to Boost Smartphone Processor Production

Samsung today announced that it will spend roughly $4 billion to revamp some of its existing facilities in Austin, Texas in order to boost production of its system-on-a-chip platforms that power a number of mobile devices including Apple's iOS products.

The funds will be used to renovate its existing fabrication operations to accommodate full System LSI production.

The remodeled fabrication line will mainly produce state-of-the-art mobile SoCs on 300mm wafers at the 28nm process node.

Starting work this month, the project is scheduled to initiate mass production within the second half of 2013. About 2,500 construction workers and equipment vendors will be at the site to retrofit the facility and set up the equipment.

samsung austin facilities
Samsung's Austin chip production facilities (Source: Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)

As noted by the Austin American-Statesman, Samsung will be converting older facilities currently used for memory chip production.

Although Samsung does not say exactly who it is making the new chips for, technology industry analysts say the Austin factory is a key maker of low-power system chips.

The two key customers of the Austin fab, analysts say, are almost certain to be Apple Inc., which depends on Samsung to make essential smartphone chips, and Samsung's own smartphone business.

Austin is already a hub for both Samsung's system-on-a-chip production and Apple, with Samsung having opened a new factory dedicated to production of Apple's A5 chips just last December and Apple currently pursing a major expansion of its existing presence in the city.

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Top Rated Comments

samcraig Avatar
168 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.

Is this post sincere/serious? There are no words...
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Puevlo Avatar
168 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scottie2345 Avatar
168 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.

WOW i cannot believe you said that, you do understand about the technology and work involved in making processors?, thought not, in this case apple are the bottom feeders, feeding of the advances of their suppliers, piss them off and you aint gong anywhere, I think apple needs to be careful of upsetting samsung, all the good stuff, better screens,faster cpu, memory etc aint coming from apple.
Sorry to have to let you know this but someone's gotta tell some of the folks around here.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
168 months ago
4 bil for a fence around the roof and a fence in every window...

The article isn't about Foxconn.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G4DP Avatar
168 months ago
So if a Korean company thinks it's a good investment to continue with plants in the USA, why doesn't a American company do the same?

This says more about Apple than it does Samsung.

Apple has no confidence in the American manufacturing sector?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Intarweb Avatar
168 months ago
So the great and evil Korean company Samsung is going to be investing $4 billion dollars more in manufacturing in the good ol' U S of A than Apple does? At a time when manufacturing needs to come back to the United States, it's a Korean electronics company, not an American electronics company, leading the way.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)