Samsung Investing $4 Billion in Austin, Texas to Boost Smartphone Processor Production

Samsung today announced that it will spend roughly $4 billion to revamp some of its existing facilities in Austin, Texas in order to boost production of its system-on-a-chip platforms that power a number of mobile devices including Apple's iOS products.

The funds will be used to renovate its existing fabrication operations to accommodate full System LSI production.

The remodeled fabrication line will mainly produce state-of-the-art mobile SoCs on 300mm wafers at the 28nm process node.

Starting work this month, the project is scheduled to initiate mass production within the second half of 2013. About 2,500 construction workers and equipment vendors will be at the site to retrofit the facility and set up the equipment.

samsung austin facilities
Samsung's Austin chip production facilities (Source: Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman)

As noted by the Austin American-Statesman, Samsung will be converting older facilities currently used for memory chip production.

Although Samsung does not say exactly who it is making the new chips for, technology industry analysts say the Austin factory is a key maker of low-power system chips.

The two key customers of the Austin fab, analysts say, are almost certain to be Apple Inc., which depends on Samsung to make essential smartphone chips, and Samsung's own smartphone business.

Austin is already a hub for both Samsung's system-on-a-chip production and Apple, with Samsung having opened a new factory dedicated to production of Apple's A5 chips just last December and Apple currently pursing a major expansion of its existing presence in the city.

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...

Top Rated Comments

samcraig Avatar
165 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.

Is this post sincere/serious? There are no words...
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Puevlo Avatar
165 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scottie2345 Avatar
165 months ago
Apple should stop giving money to these bottom feeders. Make your own fabrication labs Apple.

WOW i cannot believe you said that, you do understand about the technology and work involved in making processors?, thought not, in this case apple are the bottom feeders, feeding of the advances of their suppliers, piss them off and you aint gong anywhere, I think apple needs to be careful of upsetting samsung, all the good stuff, better screens,faster cpu, memory etc aint coming from apple.
Sorry to have to let you know this but someone's gotta tell some of the folks around here.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
165 months ago
4 bil for a fence around the roof and a fence in every window...

The article isn't about Foxconn.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G4DP Avatar
165 months ago
So if a Korean company thinks it's a good investment to continue with plants in the USA, why doesn't a American company do the same?

This says more about Apple than it does Samsung.

Apple has no confidence in the American manufacturing sector?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Intarweb Avatar
165 months ago
So the great and evil Korean company Samsung is going to be investing $4 billion dollars more in manufacturing in the good ol' U S of A than Apple does? At a time when manufacturing needs to come back to the United States, it's a Korean electronics company, not an American electronics company, leading the way.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)