Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc completed final agreements to get billions of US dollars of government support for new semiconductor plants in the US, cementing a major piece of US President Joe Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act initiative.
Under binding agreements unveiled Friday, Samsung would get as much as US$4.75 billion in funding, while Texas Instruments stands to receive US$1.6 billion — money that would help them build facilities in Texas and Utah. The final deals mean the chipmakers can begin collecting the funding when their projects hit certain benchmarks.
Though the terms of Texas Instruments’ final agreement is in line with a preliminary deal, Samsung is getting substantially less than originally expected.
Photo: Reuters
“Our mid-to-long-term investment plan has been partially revised to optimize overall investment efficiency,” Samsung said in a statement, indicating that its project would not be as large as originally planned.
The CHIPS Act, signed into law by Biden in 2022, set aside US$39 billion in grants, loans and loan guarantees worth US$75 billion and 25 percent tax credits. It aims to boost US semiconductor production after decades of manufacturing shifting abroad.
Officials have divvied up most of that money, with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo racing to finalize as many deals as possible before leaving office.
The latest awards round out the program’s biggest grants, helping ensure that there is comprehensive local production of semiconductors. Texas Instruments is the largest maker of analog chips and embedded processors. Samsung is the world’s top maker of memory chips and a major provider of advanced outsourced production for other companies.
China has boosted its manufacturing capacity of analog and embedded chips, attempting to be more self-reliant in this vital area. That has made it all the more important for the US to do the same.
In a separate announcement, the US Department of Commerce also firmed up plans to deliver US$407 million in direct funding to Amkor Technology Inc. The money would support that company’s investment in Arizona, where it is building more capacity for what is called advanced packaging.
Texas Instruments’ award would help fund three new large plants: two in Sherman, Texas, and one in Lehi, Utah. They would create 2,000 new positions for the Dallas-based company, it said.
Samsung is expanding its facilities in central Texas. That would include work on so-called logic chips — components that act as the brains of systems — and a research and design facility in Taylor. The company also would be expanding an existing site in Austin.
Texas Instruments has said it plans to spend about US$40 billion to build five new US factories: one in Utah and four in Texas. The government funding supports just the first two Texas factories, since officials are prioritizing projects that would be in production by the end of the decade.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS