Samsung's nearly $4 billion Austin plant expansion is a sign that the company's getting serious about building new, better processors for more than memory.
Samsung Electronics and the state government of Texas have finalized talks to invest $3.9 billion into the company’s facility in Austin. The South Korean company is already the top memory chip manufacturer in the world, according to International Business Times, and the new expansion will further bolster its production of system chips.
The move signals that Samsung is looking to reduce its dependence on the unpredictable market for memory processors and make bigger inroads into processors for tablets and smartphones. In an unusual twist, Samsung’s biggest client for those processors is Apple, Samsung’s longtime, bitter legal rival. However, Apple has indicated that it may be shopping around for a new supplier, with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) rumored to be a frontrunner.
With the new expansion, Samsung is putting TSMC in its crosshairs. “Our ongoing, multibillion dollar investments in Austin will expand our footprint as a comprehensive semiconductor hub,” Woosung Han, president of Samsung Austin Semiconductor, said in a statement earlier in December.
Samsung has had a busy year, from it’s well-publicized spats with Apple to big new product launches. Next year promises to be interesting as well, if the company’s recently released teaser trailer for CES 2013 is any indication.
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Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
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