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South Korean electronics major Samsung Electronics is preparing to begin trial operations at its new chip manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas, as early as December, ahead of planned mass production in 2027, according to a report by The Korea Herald.
The company has been installing manufacturing equipment, setting up production lines and conducting performance checks at the facility, with trial operations potentially beginning around mid-to-late December, the report said, citing industry sources. Samsung has not confirmed a specific date for the trial run. Samsung Austin Semiconductor, the company's US manufacturing subsidiary, is also recruiting engineers specialising in etching, metallisation and ion implantation, along with technical instructors who will train new employees. These preparations follow Samsung's confirmation last month that its first Taylor plant is expected to become fully operational by the end of this year. Samsung spokesperson Michele Glaze confirmed the timeline in late October, while the company has separately indicated that production at the facility will ramp up in 2027. The trial operations will involve testing manufacturing equipment and production processes before commercial manufacturing begins. Samsung will also need to stabilise production yields, which are critical for manufacturing chips using its advanced 2-nanometre technology. The Taylor facility is expected to manufacture next-generation AI6 chips for Tesla under a USD 16.5 billion supply agreement announced last year. Production of these chips is planned for the second half of 2027. Samsung began construction of the facility in 2022 and initially targeted operations in the second half of 2024. However, the project has since been delayed by about two years. The company is also expected to begin construction of a second plant in Taylor this month. Samsung had announced in July that the second facility would enter mass production in 2030. According to industry sources cited by The Korea Herald, Samsung has also secured orders to manufacture logic base dies for high-bandwidth memory chips destined for AMD and Nvidia at the second plant. However, these reported contracts have not been publicly confirmed. Samsung remains the second-largest player in the global contract chipmaking market, trailing Taiwan-based TSMC by a significant margin. According to market researcher TrendForce, Samsung held a 5.9 per cent share of global foundry revenue in the second quarter, compared with TSMC's 72.5 per cent. The upcoming trial operations at the Taylor facility mark an important step in Samsung's efforts to expand its chip manufacturing operations in the United States, with commercial production expected to ramp up in 2027. (ANI)
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