Samsung's multi-billion dollar advanced chipmaking factory located in Taylor, Texas, is ready to start mass production of chips for clients.
The company has confirmed that everything is ready and that mass production of advanced chips for customers will begin next year.
2nm process advancement is underway as well
Margaret Han, Vice President of Samsung's foundry division in the US, said during the Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem Forum held at the company's US headquarters yesterday that âWe are ready.â She added that âCustomers will begin production at the Taylor fab starting next year.â
Samsung began construction on this factory back in 2022. Its total investment in the project is expected to exceed $17 billion. The company had previously said during the first quarter earnings call this year that the fab was âunder construction.â It was stated that the goal was to begin operation within the year.
Tesla is among the customers who will have their chips produced at this factory. The carmaker already has a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung for the production of its AI5 and AI6 self-driving chips. Samsung will produce 2nm chips at the facility.
To further improve its technological edge at the US factory, Samsung will start building out the second-generation enhancement of its 2nm process in the near future. This process advancement has been tuned finely for AI workloads, potentially delivering a performance improvement of up to 30%.
The Hot Take: MacRumors posting about it give it more merrit to me.
Apple has held "exploratory" talks with Intel and Samsung about manufacturing the main processors for its devices in the United States, reports Bloomberg ($).
Apple is said to have had early-stage talks with Intel about using its chipmaking services, while Apple executives have reportedly visited a Samsung plant under construction in Texas that will also make advanced chips.
The talks are said to be preliminary, and no orders have been made so far, according to the report's sources who asked not to be identified. Apple is also said to have concerns about using technology that is not made by its longtime chip partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), so the talks could still go nowhere.
Apple is said to be seeking potential additional suppliers beyond TSMC as a way to avoid recent shortages almost entirely driven by the current build-out of AI data centers.
Heavy demand for Mac mini and Mac Studio models - sought-after because of their suitability for running local AI models - is also said to have been another factor. On an earnings call last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that Mac mini and Mac Studio supply is constrained, and he said it may take "several months" for Apple to achieve supply-demand balance.
Neither Intel nor Samsung can reliably provide the kind of production and scale that TSMC offers, so it's not clear how much, if anything, will come out of the discussions. Apple has already worked with TSMC to help expand its plant in Phoenix, which is now producing a limited number of chips for Apple and expects to make 100 million chips for the company in 2026.Tags: Bloomberg, Intel, SamsungThis article, "Apple Eyes Intel and Samsung as Backup US Chipmakers" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
The Hot Take: USA domestic manufacturing is taking off, TSMC announcing huge expansions in Arizona. Intel getting that Federal injection is definitely keeping them alive and making them relevant again. Probably also why Nvidia dumped money into Intel too to make sure there is choice states side.
TSMC is turning into a victim of its own success as the world's preferred chip foundry, leaving its heretofore prized customers such as Apple in a bind of sorts as they suddenly find themselves crowded out by AI hyperscalers. In its frustration, Apple is now reportedly exploring the possibility of dividing up its silicon load between Samsung, Intel, and TSMC rather than remaining largely TSMC-exclusive. Apple is looking for contingencies by tentatively probing Intel and Samsung as additional vectors for manufacturing its custom chips According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has already held "early-stage talks" with Intel for using its [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apple-quietly-courts-intel-and-samsung-for-its-most-critical-chips-as-tsmcs-advanced-nodes-remain-choked-under-ai-demand/
The Hot Take: Charge top dollar your union workers are going to want a slice of that pie. Just like any Government.
Samsung Electronics is preparing for a significant labor disruption as its primary union has announced an 18-day general strike scheduled from May 21 to June 7, 2026.
The Hot Take: Good news for both of them! TSMC needs to be brought into check on 2nm to bring prices down for all of us.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has been spotted in Korea meeting with Samsung executives. The trip is all about manufacturing chips on the 2nm process, and there's a chance that Qualcomm will turn to Samsung to fabricate the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 SoCs.
Back at CES in January, Amon revealed that Qualcomm was talking to Samsung about this, and it seems like the discussions are still ongoing. If all this pans out and Qualcomm does indeed pick Samsung to fab the next top of the line Snapdragon SoC, it would mark a return to the Korean company for the first time since 2022, which is...
The Hot Take: Nice, competition domestically is the best thing to see going on. I'm cheering on intel but Samsung and TSMC domestically too.
Samsung has made a massive investment in a cutting-edge chipmaking plant in Taylor, Texas. A $16.5 billion order from Tesla has already been secured for its next-generation self-driving chips.
A new report claims that Samsung's Taylor plant is now close to launch, with Tesla's chips likely to be produced from the second half of this year.
This is one of Samsung's biggest investments in the US
A report out of South Korea mentions that Samsung will host a major equipment move-in ceremony at the Taylor plant on April 24th. Key Samsung Electronics executives are said to attend this event, including Han Jin-man, the president of the company's foundry division.
This has been a long time coming. Samsung initially broke ground on the project back in November 2022. The Taylor fab was projected to begin operations in October 2024. However, given the lack of visibility on major orders, Samsung had delayed production activities.
It then received a shot in the arm from Tesla last year when the automaker confirmed it had signed a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung for its AI5 and AI6 chips to be built at the Taylor fab. Samsung views its Taylor fab as key to catching up with TSMC, its biggest rival in the contract chipmaking space, which already enjoys a dominant lead over the Korean aspirant.
Samsung's focus on making 2nm production capacity available at its US plant is meant to offer major customers like Microsoft and Meta a viable alternative to TSMC's US plant which operates on the 4nm process technology.
Major chip designers will closely watch how Samsung is able to deliver on these 2nm Tesla chips. If yields are stable at mass production volumes, it could unlock a surge in orders for Samsung as TSMC simply doesn't have the capacity to absorb all of the 2nm orders.
The Hot Take: When you fix RAM prices you'll get this. Wonder when the Class Action Suites for pricing fixing get started.
Samsung Electronics is expected to deliver one of its strongest quarterly performances on record, driven largely by a sharp upswing in the global DRAM market. Forecasts for Q1 2026 point to operating profit reaching approximately $23.
The Hot Take: ARM appears to have miffed licenses already.
ARM's ecosystem is both expansive and pervasive these days, with Samsung's latest cutting-edge Exynos 2600 chips also leveraging ARMv9.3 CPU cores. Even so, Samsung is apparently taking its first tentative steps towards the open-source RISC-V architecture via a custom SSD controller chip. Samsung is tentatively exploring the RISC-V open-source architecture via a custom SSD controller chip, moving away from ARM's IP According to South Korea-based ETNews, Samsung's upcoming SSD lineup, called the BM9K1 and designed entirely in-house, will leverage a controller chip that is based on the open-source RISC-V architecture. For the benefit of those who might not be aware, [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsung-takes-first-step-away-from-arms-ecosystem-by-working-on-an-ssd-controller-chip-based-on-risc-v-architecture/
The Hot Take: So USA looks to be having 3 foundries that will be able to produce 2nm chips. This is great news.
Samsung Electronics has reportedly moved into the equipment installation and testing phase at its foundry in Taylor, Texas, transitioning from construction to operational setup for 2nm production. More than 3,000 engineers from Samsung and global equipment suppliers have begun gathering at the site, according to ET News, signaling the start of large-scale ramp-up activities.
The Hot Take: Competition is good for all of us, I'm glad Samsung has caught up finally. Intel has to prove its self but 3 is way better than 1.
The success garnered by TSMC has turned into a double-edged sword for both the worldâs biggest foundry and its customers, as the manufacturerâs 3nm supply has become so constrained that only long-term and loyal customers like Apple are given priority. During this demand and supply disparity, Samsung emerges as the savior for those who are unable to secure orders from their âgo-toâ manufacturer, with the Korean giantâs second-generation 2nm GAA process, also known as SF2P, serving as the ideal alternative. With the 2nm GAA SF2Pâs basic design completed, Samsung is also reportedly planning a âhybridâ production system that enables multiple order [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samsung-2nm-process-an-alternative-for-customers-during-tsmc-supply-choke/