Samsung has finally decided where it will build its new EUV semiconductor manufacturing facility on US soil. The company reportedly had a choice between the states of Texas, Arizona, and New York, with each offering incentives for tech giants who'll end up contributing to building the local chip-making infrastructure. And according to the local media, Samsung has decided that its next EUV-based manufacturing facility will be built in Austin, Texas.
Samsung already has a chip manufacturing facility in Austin — the same factory that was temporarily shut down earlier this year due to harsh weather conditions. But on the most part, the existing factory is manufacturing semiconductor technologies based on 14nm processes.
In contrast, Samsung's future chip making factory in Texas will be equipped with 5nm EUV-based manufacturing lines, and therefore it will be responsible for creating Samsung's future cutting-edge chipsets. Both the Exynos 1080 and the Exynos 2100 chipsets were manufactured using a 5nm EUV process.
Samsung aims for its new 5nm EUV facility to be operational in 2024
Samsung hasn't officially revealed its plans to build its 5nm EUV facility in Austin, Texas, but industry watchers are now expecting for the company to spill the beans and confirm its decision around May 21 when presidents Moon Jae-in and Joseph Biden will attend a meeting at the White House.
Samsung reportedly wants the new 5nm EUV facility to be operational in 2024, and industry watchers expect the Korean tech giant to invest around 20 trillion won ($18 billion) in the facility's construction. That's almost twice as much as it was reported at the beginning of the year.
The company will have to equip its new facility with EUV manufacturing equipment — presumably supplied by ASML given that it's the only EUV equipment supplier in the world — and hopefully TSMC won't cause supply issues for Samsung as it did late last year.
ETNews claims that Samsung's 5nm EUV chip manufacturing facility will be build in the vicinity of the existing 14nm plant, as indicated by the yellow highlights in the satellite image below.
