Before Apple, Samsung will produce chips in the United States (for $4.75 billion)

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When it comes to smartphones and the United States, the first name that comes to mind is undoubtedly Apple. But it is not the brand with the apple that we are talking about today. It is rather its historic competitor that has managed to stand out from the crowd.

The South Korean firm has just won a financing of 4.74 billion dollarsfrom the Commerce Department. With these funds, Samsung is committed to opening semiconductor production plants in Uncle Sam's country. Specifically, two plants should see the light of day in the town of Taylor, Texas. Part of this sum should also be allocated to the already active plant in Austin, also in Texas.

While this funding is very good news for Samsung, the Asian company was hoping for even more. It was indeed expected to receive $6.4 billion with the state fund CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors).

Samsung beats Apple

The construction of these two new factories responds to very specific challenges, both for Samsung and for the United States. As for the South Korean firm, it hopes to compete with TSMC on a global scale with a state-of-the-art R&D center based in Texas.

For the time being, the Taiwanese manufacturer has not set up in the United States and although a factory project in Arizona is under discussion, it is much less advanced than that of Samsung. As a reminder, TSMC supplies many American companies, including Apple for iPhones, iPads and Macs.

A sensitive geopolitical issue

For the United States, the presence of a semiconductor production plant on its soil is vital. During the shortage of these computer components in 2020, the world realized the importance of these small pieces of silicon. It was at this time that the CHIPS fund was created, to meet the financing demands of chip-producing companies.

This geopolitical issue is not only of interest to the United States; other regions of the world are working to have semiconductor production plants on their soil. This is particularly the case in Europe. Today, several projects exist on the old continent, particularly in Germany.

Last October, however, we learned of the “suspension” Intel’s megafactory project and, two weeks later, Wolfspeed’s , whose funding is estimated at $2 billion.

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