A South Korean newspaper reported that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd may soon start the construction of a planned $17 billion U.S. chip plant in the third quarter of this year. The newspaper report also mentioned that the company hopes that this new chip plant becomes operational by 2024.
The Electronic Times while citing unnamed industry sources reported that Samsung plans on applying an advanced 5-nanometer extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography chip-making process at the plant, and the plant is expected to be sited in Austin, Texas.
Samsung, has, however revealed that nothing has been decided about the chip plant. In previous documents filed with Texas state officials, Samsung mentioned Austin as its top choice for a new $17 billion chip plant that the company plans on creating 1,800 new jobs.
The coronavirus pandemic coupled with other factors such as the huge demand for devices that run on chips has caused an astronomical demand for chips. The global chip shortage is currently the cause of production challenges being experienced by industries in the production of cars, smartphones, computers, etc.
In a recent interview with Handelsblatt newspaper, the founder of Dell Technologies; Michael Dell, said that the ongoing shortage in chips needed for electronic devices may persist for a few years. “The shortage will probably continue for a few years. Even if chip factories are built all over the world it takes time”, Michael Dell; Founder of Dell Technologies told Handelsblatt newspaper.
Chuck Robbins; Chief Executive Officer of networking giant company Cisco Systems, also recently told BBC in an interview that the global chip shortage should last for about six months and get better twelve to eighteen months after that. He also stressed that the continued expansion in technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence, will continue to push the demand for semiconductor chips higher.
What this goes to show is that the global chip shortage will take some time to come to an end and contributions from companies investing in chip plants will go a long way in bringing this to a quick end.
Joe Biden has proposed a $50 billion support for chip production and this is pushing chipmakers like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to start thinking about new investment. Samsung’s new chip could, therefore, go a long way in reducing the impact of the global chip shortage and eventually bringing it to an end.
