Report: Samsung factory going to Austin

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South Korean media is reporting that Samsung will build a new $17 billion microchip plant in Austin, Texas. A formal announcement could come as soon as Friday following a meeting between President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. 

Any such deal would dash local hopes about luring the plant – and its 1,900 jobs – to a 1,250-acre industrial park in rural Genesee County. 

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and officials with the Genesee County Economic Development Center have touted the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in the Town of Alabama as an ideal location for Samsung. Officials were reportedly prepared to offer an incentive package worth $900 million to bring the project to New York. 

A site in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, is also under consideration. 

Investigative Post reported in February that the plant was likely headed to Austin, where the company purchased 250 acres next to an existing facility. Officials had reportedly offered a subsidy package worth about $1 billion. 

Genesee County officials have so far spent more than $26 million on STAMP’s development. To date, the site has attracted just one tenant – the hydrogen fuel company Plug Power, which is planning to build a $232 million plant there. Plug Power has agreed to create 68 full-time jobs under an incentive package offering tax breaks and power discounts estimated at $269.5 million – or $4 million per job.

The report in Korea IT News said Samsung plans to break ground on its new Austin facility in the third quarter of this year, with chip production to start in 2024.

According to the report: “The company already sent personnel who will be responsible for building the new fab and utility facilities to Austin.”

There’s a move afoot to construct microchip factories in the United States to compensate for a shortage of semiconductors used in a wide array of products. 

Economic development officials in Genesee County did not respond to requests from comment from Investigative Post.