As Samsung Electronics and TSMC accelerate the ramp-up of their U.S. production bases, manufacturing partners such as materials, parts, and equipment suppliers are also flocking to locations near the sites to support mass production. They are establishing corporations and factories and expanding hiring in regions such as Texas and Arizona, where the two corporations' production bases are located.
According to the industry on the 7th, DONGJIN SEMICHEM, Soulbrain, FST, and HANYANG ENG, which are Samsung Electronics' materials, parts, and equipment partners, are setting up corporations and production bases in Texas and rushing to hire workers.
Foxconn and Wistron, which mount AI semiconductors manufactured by TSMC onto servers, are expanding investment in AI server production bases in places such as Texas, Wisconsin, and California. Advanced packaging partners such as ASE are also pushing to build factories in Arizona, where TSMC's production base is located.
◇ DONGJIN SEMICHEM, Soulbrain strengthen U.S. production capacity
Samsung Electronics is said to have finalized dispatched personnel ahead of next year's Taylor fab (factory) ramp-up and begun placing some initial orders with materials, parts, and equipment partners. It plans to start pilot production as early as April next year and appears to be speeding up collaboration with those partners. Samsung Electronics has secured orders for advanced AI semiconductors from Tesla and others and plans to mass-produce them at the Taylor fab in the United States next year.
A semiconductor industry official said, "Ahead of next year's Taylor fab launch, not only headquarters staff of Samsung Electronics but also materials, parts, and equipment partners are moving en masse to the site," and noted, "After the 'Georgia incident' in September, when U.S. immigration authorities detained Korean workers, Samsung Electronics recently asked partners to pay close attention to visa issuance."
Samsung Electronics' materials partners Soulbrain and DONGJIN SEMICHEM are supporting by building new plants in Texas. Soulbrain is constructing a plant in Texas with an investment of about 800 billion won, while DONGJIN SEMICHEM has built a production base with $70 million (about 100 billion won) and plans to invest an additional $110 million (about 160 billion won) to expand production facilities. HANYANG ENG, which supplies semiconductor cleanroom equipment and other systems to Samsung Electronics, is said to have established its U.S. headquarters in Texas and begun cleanroom construction work for the Taylor fab with Samsung Electronics. FST, which supplies lithography process parts that draw circuits on semiconductor wafers and chiller equipment, is also reported to have recently hired personnel to be deployed to the production line.
◇ Taiwan's Foxconn and Wistron ramp up U.S. investment
TSMC, which released a production base investment plan worth more than 100 trillion won in Arizona, is already mass-producing advanced AI semiconductors for U.S. big tech customers such as Nvidia on site. TSMC Chair Wei Zhejia said on the third-quarter earnings conference call in Oct., "We will purchase land near the Phoenix 21 fab (semiconductor plant) in Arizona and move to expand production facilities."
Foxconn, Wistron, ASE, and other manufacturing partners of TSMC are also reportedly moving in earnest to invest in the United States to provide smooth support. Foxconn plans to invest more than $450 million (about 650 billion won) to build a next-generation AI server manufacturing plant in Houston, Texas, while Wistron is said to be expanding its investment plan for its California plant, where its server assembly plant is located, from the originally planned $71 million (about 102.6 billion won) to $143.6 million (about 207 billion won). ASE is also reportedly planning to establish a plant in Arizona.