Samsung Electronics announced on June 9, 2010
that it plans to invest US$3.6 billion in expanding its 12-inch semiconductor
fabrication plant in Austin, Texas, according to a June 10 EE Times report. The
expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. It is reported that the
expansion is aimed at producing advanced logic devices for Samsung's System LSI
(Large Scale Integrated circuits) business. At present, the Austin plant
produces a variety of NAND Flash memory chips, which will continue after the expansion
is completed. It is estimated that Samsung will hire 500 more employees to
support the expanded operation.
In May 2010, Samsung said that it would double
its capital expenditure this fiscal year to boost the capacities of
semiconductor and flat-panel display production. In the semiconductor sector, Samsung
has earmarked an expenditure of US$9.6 billion for production capacity
expansion, according to an EE Times report in May 2010.