HardwareNov 10, 2026, 2:54 AM UTC·2 min read

Samsung to Start Test Runs at Its Taylor, Texas Chip Fab in December

Samsung Electronics plans trial production at its Taylor, Texas fab in the second half of December, with mass output of advanced chips due in 2027.

Exterior of Samsung's semiconductor fab under construction in Taylor, Texas. — Image: 3DNews - Daily Digital Digest

Samsung Electronics is preparing to begin trial operations at its new semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, in the second half of December. Mass production of advanced chips at the site is planned for 2027.

The company has not given an exact start date for the test phase. Industry sources say engineers are finishing equipment installation and running initial system checks. Samsung Austin Semiconductor, the company's US unit, is meanwhile recruiting process engineers and technical instructors to train staff.

Yield is the main goal

The trial stage is meant to tune the production lines and bring the share of usable dies to an acceptable level, which is critical for ramping a 2-nanometer process. Construction in Taylor began in 2022, and the plant was originally expected to open in the second half of 2024, so the schedule has slipped by about two years.

One of the fab's key tasks is making next-generation AI6 processors for Tesla under a contract worth $16.5 billion. Their production is expected in the second half of 2027.

A second Texas plant

Samsung is due to start building a second Texas plant before the end of this month, with operations planned for 2030. Sources say it could make base logic dies for HBM high-bandwidth memory ordered by AMD and Nvidia, though those agreements have not been officially confirmed.

Why it matters

The US fab is meant to strengthen Samsung's position in contract chipmaking. The company ranks second globally but trails far behind TSMC. According to TrendForce, Samsung held 5.9% of the global foundry market in the second quarter of 2026, against 72.5% for the leader.

For customers such as Tesla, AMD and Nvidia, a leading-edge fab on US soil offers an alternative to Asian-only production. Whether Samsung can reach competitive yields on 2 nm will decide how much of that gap it can close.

Apps worth a look

SUMO: the number puzzle

Tap the right tiles, add them up, hit the target. Easy to learn, hard to master. Free, for all ages.

Dialo: learn languages by speaking

Talk to an AI conversation partner; every sentence comes back corrected and explained in your language. 9 languages, A1 to C2.

ediviewer: read EDI files like documents

Open EDIFACT and X12 messages, see every segment explained, convert to JSON/XML, export PDF and Excel. Runs locally, no upload.

giftdetect: the right gift in minutes

Pick who it is for, the occasion and their personality. The search engine reads product descriptions from local shops and ranks what fits. Free, no sign-up.

Tags:samsungsemiconductorstaylor texastesla2nmfoundry