Samsung kicks off equipment move-in at its $37B Taylor, Texas fab
The Central Texas plant is gearing up to make Tesla's next-generation AI chips under a $16.5 billion deal.
Samsung held an equipment-installation ceremony at its foundry in Taylor, Texas on April 24, beginning the final run-up to mass production at the roughly $37 billion site. The plant is targeted to be producing chips by the end of 2026, with Tesla's AI5 and AI6 autonomous-driving processors slated as among the first products on a 2-nanometer-class process.
The fab anchors a multiyear agreement with Tesla valued at $16.5 billion that runs through the end of 2033. Samsung is targeting 50,000 wafer starts per month at the site, with qualified 2nm volume production expected to ramp in the second half of 2027.
Why it matters
The Taylor fab is one of the most significant pieces of U.S. semiconductor reshoring, and a marquee customer like Tesla gives Samsung the volume commitment it needed to justify the investment. Domestic capacity for advanced AI chips also reduces reliance on overseas foundries at a moment when chip supply is strategically contested.
For Central Texas, the project deepens a regional manufacturing cluster a short drive from Austin, layering thousands of fab jobs on top of the area's existing concentration of Tesla, Samsung and chip-supply employers.
Samsung Electronics signs $16.5bn deal with Tesla to manufacture AI6 chips at Taylor, Texas fab.— Data Center Dynamics, report
Reported by Next in Austin. Based on reporting from The Korea Times.
