The US Commerce Department said yesterday it was finalising an award of up to $4.745 billion to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and up to $1.61bn for Texas Instruments to expand chip production.
The department also finalised an award of up to $407 million to help fund Amkor Technology’s planned $2bn advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Arizona, which is set to be the largest of its kind in the US.
The Samsung award is about $1.7bn smaller than the preliminary award announced in April of up to $6.4bn and reflects its revised smaller investment plans, the department said.
A Commerce spokesperson said the department “changed this award to align with market conditions and the scope of the investment the company is making.”
A Samsung spokesperson said its “mid-to-long-term investment plan has been partially revised to optimise overall investment efficiency” but declined to disclose details of its agreement with the Commerce Department.
In April, administration officials said Samsung planned to invest roughly $45bn to build two chip production facilities, a research centre and a packaging facility by 2030. On Friday, Commerce said Samsung plans to invest $37bn and complete the projects by the end of the decade.
Texas Instruments has pledged to invest more than $18bn through 2029 in two new factories in Texas and one in Utah, which are expected to create 2,000 manufacturing jobs. The company is getting $900m for its Texas operations and $700m.
Amkor’s Arizona plant when fully operational will package and test millions of chips for autonomous vehicles, 5G/6G and data centres. Apple will be its first and largest customer with the chips produced at a nearby Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC facility.
Amkor CEO Giel Rutten said the facility “will serve as a critical cornerstone in establishing a robust semiconductor manufacturing supply chain within the United States.”
Congress in August 2022 approved a $39bn subsidy programme for US semiconductor manufacturing and related components along with $75bn in government lending authority.
Last month, Commerce finalised an award of up to $7.86bn for Intel down from $8.5bn announced in March after the California-based chips maker won a separate $3bn award from the Pentagon.
Commerce has now finalised the largest awards it offered earlier this year, including this week, finalising up to $458m for SK Hynix in Indiana. In total, Commerce has finalised more than $33bn of the over $36bn in proposed incentives funding.
“With this investment in Samsung, the US is now officially the only country on the planet that is home to all five leading-edge semiconductor manufacturers,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
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