Samsung Chip Plant Site Selection
Samsung has announced plans to build a semiconductor plant in the US and is evaluating sites for what will be a ~$17b project that will encompass ~1,900 jobs. Under consideration are three sites, one in Austin, Texas where Samsung already has a fab, another in Phoenix, Arizona, and a 3rd in Genesee County in Upstate New York. While the Austin location was considered the most likely location given its proximity to Samsung’s S2 line, a 90,000 WPM 300mm fab, the power issues that caused the plant to shut down during a February snowstorm might bring into question Texas’s unusual power grid issues and add some additional risk to that potential expansion site. Also being considered are two locations to the west and east of Phoenix, Arizona.
The site in New York State is one that has been developed by the state and Genesee County (near Buffalo) and features low-cost hydroelectric power (30mi from Niagara Falls), although from the data we have seen, power is less expensive in both Austin and Phoenix, a 24” natural gas pipeline, and two redundant high-capacity water lines feeding the 1,250 acre site. With Cornell, RIT and 55 other colleges and universities nearby, the site promos offer over 1m potential employees within a 30min commute and is accessed by two major highways and is 4mi from a major interstate.
That said, Samsung has been said to be requesting tax reductions between $800m and $1b to settle in any of the three locations, with the alternative of setting up another fab in South Korea if demands are not met. Right now it is certainly a buyers’ market for such facilities, especially after the President’s recent EO concerning the semiconductor shortages, which sanctioned another study that should be completed around June, roughly when Samsung is expected to make a decision on the final location of its new fab. “Where money talks, nobody walks”[1]
[1] – Charlie Greer – WABC for Dennison Clothes. 1967
The site in New York State is one that has been developed by the state and Genesee County (near Buffalo) and features low-cost hydroelectric power (30mi from Niagara Falls), although from the data we have seen, power is less expensive in both Austin and Phoenix, a 24” natural gas pipeline, and two redundant high-capacity water lines feeding the 1,250 acre site. With Cornell, RIT and 55 other colleges and universities nearby, the site promos offer over 1m potential employees within a 30min commute and is accessed by two major highways and is 4mi from a major interstate.
That said, Samsung has been said to be requesting tax reductions between $800m and $1b to settle in any of the three locations, with the alternative of setting up another fab in South Korea if demands are not met. Right now it is certainly a buyers’ market for such facilities, especially after the President’s recent EO concerning the semiconductor shortages, which sanctioned another study that should be completed around June, roughly when Samsung is expected to make a decision on the final location of its new fab. “Where money talks, nobody walks”[1]
[1] – Charlie Greer – WABC for Dennison Clothes. 1967
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