Samsung Texas plant to produce 4nm chips by the end of 2024

Samsung Electronics will mass-produce 4-nanometer chips by the end of next year with a factory in Taylor, Texas, currently under construction.

Samsung's chip factory in Taylor, Texas under construction [KYUNG KYE-HYUN'S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT]

Samsung Electronics will begin mass producing 4-nanometer chips by the end of next year at its new factory in Taylor, Texas, as the chip giant seeks to expand its contract chipmaking share in the United States, where big clients including Qualcomm, AMD and Nvidia are headquartered. “By the end of next year, we will start shipping the 4-nanometer chips. Major U.S. clients who want their core products to be manufactured on their own soil want the chips to be manufactured here,” said Samsung Electronics CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who heads the semiconductor business, said in a post uploaded on one of his social media accounts Friday. “The exterior framework for the first factory is finished, and we have started work on the interior,” he said.

Samsung is building a $17 billion advanced chip factory in the Texan city that is slated to finish construction within this year and start mass production by the latter half of next year.

The news comes as the Suwon, Gyeonggi-based company has been rapidly improving its yield rate of advanced manufacturing processes, such as the 4-nanometer process. Samsung is looking to increase market share in a market dominated by Taiwan’s TSMC, after major clients such as Qualcomm and Nvidia recently chose the Taiwanese company over it. Hi Investment & Securities analyst Park Sang-wook said that Samsung will likely achieve a production yield of 75 percent for the 4-nanometer process and 60 percent for the 3-nanometer this year. The new plant will manufacture advanced chips to be deployed in areas including mobile, 5G, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

The AI hype is still red-hot as active discussions around topics including cloud-based generative AI and on-device AI continue, Kyung said.

“In the various steps of chips, packaging, system and solutions, [companies] are in full swing to add value,” he wrote in his post.

“As a component supplier, it’s time to think carefully about creating and obtaining more value in the upcoming AI scene.”

BY JIN EUN-SOO, PARK EUN-JEE [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]