Remember when Trump, during his first term, broke ground on a Foxcom factory that was coming to the United States? Probably don’t because it never happened. A similar situation is currently happening with Samsung. Back in 2021, Samsung started building a factory in Taylor, Texas which would focus on making semiconductors.
Samsung planned to spend $44 billion in Texas when it was given up to $6.4 billion through the Biden CHIPS Act. It was supposed to open up in 2024. That hasn’t happened. You may know that if you realize that it’s 2025. Samsung had pushed back the opening to sometime in 2026, according to Nikkei Asia.
The company was full gung ho about it when it began, but slowly over the years they started to drag their feet. Why? You may be wondering. They have no clients for a facility that is over 90 percent completed.
Last year, Reuters reported that Samsung had delayed the deliveries of advanced-chipmaking equipment from ASML to its Taylor facility, since it had yet to sign up any major customer for the plant.
Recently, the market hasn’t been good for tech companies. Samsung cut jobs around the world, some of those jobs were in Texas. not just the company’s employees who were affected by the delays: Samsung’s suppliers, some of which are small companies, are also impacted and have had to look for other customers while the facility’s completion is on hold.
Samsung has assured Nikkei Asia that it’s still planning to open in 2026. However analysts previously called that into question seeing as it has yet to land volume clients. In fact, South Korean publication The Elec claimed in April that Samsung is now targeting a February 2027 opening date instead of sometime in 2026. The publication said that in addition to the lack of customers, Samsung’s contractors had also pulled out of the project and its on-site workforce is now a fourth of its original size.