Industry news--Karmin Electronic (HK) Limited

Due to a lack of customers, the opening of Samsung’s Taylor wafer fab in the United States has been postponed to 2026
2025-07-07

According to Nikkei Asia, Samsung's cutting-edge process wafer fab in Taylor, Texas, USA, although nearing completion, has been postponed until 2026 due to a lack of customers.

According to reports, an internal document from Samsung in March this year showed that the completion rate of the Taylor wafer fab had already reached 91.8%. However, Samsung Taylor's wafer fab has not yet received customer orders, as the demand for chips from domestic customers in the United States seems to be more inclined towards advanced process technologies at 4nm and above.

TSMC's 4nm wafer fab in Arizona, USA, began mass production at the end of last year and successfully obtained certifications from Nvidia AMD、 Orders from major clients such as Apple. However, Samsung's Taylor wafer fab currently does not have enough production lines to meet the needs of such customers.

As early as 2021, Samsung announced an investment plan of $17 billion to build a 5nm wafer fab in Taylor City, with plans to put it into operation in 2024. However, in April 2024, Samsung reached an agreement with the US Department of Commerce to increase its investment in the United States to $44 billion, including the construction of two new leading logic wafer fabs (including one 4nm and one 2nm wafer fab), a factory for developing new process node technologies, an advanced packaging factory for producing 3D high bandwidth memory and 2.5D packaging, and the expansion of their existing Austin factory. Correspondingly, the US Department of Commerce will provide Samsung with up to $6.4 billion in direct subsidies under the Chip and Science Act.

However, with the strong demand for cutting-edge processes in artificial intelligence chips, and subsequently TSMC's announcement of increased investment in the United States to $65 billion, including plans to build more advanced wafer fabs of 2nm and below. This move stimulated Samsung to upgrade its originally planned 4nm manufacturing process to 2nm.

Embarrassingly, as its US wafer fab is about to be completed, Samsung cannot find enough American customers. However, if adjustments are made to the wafer fab process technology, it will be a significant and costly task, so the company is currently adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

At the beginning of this year, there were rumors that Samsung had been delaying equipment procurement and delivery plans after the completion of its Taylor wafer fab. Normally, equipment would be introduced and installed within 3 to 6 months after the completion of the factory construction.

There are rumors that although Samsung was preparing for the 2nm production line at the Taylor factory, the wafer fab is likely to delay providing 2nm processes to American customers until after 2026, which may be close to the production time of TSMC's 2nm wafer fab in Arizona, USA.

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