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Samsung Considers $10 Billion Texas Chipmaking Plant, Sources Say
(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. is considering spending more than $10 billion building its most advanced logic chipmaking plant in the U.S., a major investment it hopes will win more American clients and help it catch up with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.The world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker is in discussions to locate a facility in Austin, Texas, capable of fabricating chips as advanced as 3 nanometers in the future, people familiar with the matter said. Plans are preliminary and subject to change but for now the aim is to kick off construction this year, install major equipment from 2022, then begin operations as early as 2023, they said. While the investment amount could fluctuate, Samsung’s plans would mean upwards of $10 billion to bankroll the project, one of the people said.Samsung is taking advantage of a concerted U.S. government effort to counter China’s rising economic prowess and lure back home some of the advanced manufacturing that over the past decades has gravitated toward Asia. The hope is that such production bases in the U.S. will galvanize local businesses and support American industry and chip design. Intel Corp.’s troubles ramping up on technology and its potential reliance in the future on TSMC and Samsung for at least some of its chipmaking only underscored the extent to which Asian giants have forged ahead in recent years.The envisioned plant will be its first in the U.S. to use extreme ultraviolet lithography, the standard for next-generation silicon, the people said, asking not to be identified talking about internal deliberations. Asked about plans for a U.S. facility, Samsung said in an email no decision has yet been made.“If Samsung really wants to realize its goal to become the top chipmaker by 2030, it needs massive investment in the U.S. to catch up with TSMC,” said Greg Roh, senior vice president at HMC Securities. “TSMC is likely to keep making progress in process nodes to 3nm at its Arizona plant and Samsung may do the same. One challenging task is to secure EUV equipment now, when Hynix and Micron are also seeking to purchase the machines.”Read more: Intel Talks With TSMC, Samsung to Outsource Some Chip ProductionIf Samsung goes ahead, it would effectively go head-to-head on American soil with TSMC, which is on track to build its own $12 billion chip plant in Arizona by 2024. Samsung is trying to catch TSMC in the so-called foundry business of making chips for the world’s corporations -- a particularly pivotal capability given a deepening shortage of semiconductors in recent weeks.Under Samsung family scion Jay Y. Lee, the company has said it wants to be the biggest player in the $400 billion chip industry. It plans to invest $116 billion into its foundry and chip design businesses over the next decade, aiming to catch TSMC by offering chips made using 3-nanometer technology in 2022.It already dominates the market for memory chips and is trying to increase its presence in the more profitable market for logic devices, such as the processors that run smartphones and computers. It already counts Qualcomm Inc. and Nvidia Corp. as customers, companies that historically relied on TSMC exclusively. It has two EUV plants, one near its main chip site in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, and another coming online nearby at Pyeongtaek.To close a deal, Samsung may need time to negotiate potential incentives with President Joe Biden’s administration. The company has hired people in Washington D.C. to lobby on behalf of the deal and is ready to go ahead with the new administration in place, the people said. Tax benefits and subsidies will ease Samsung’s financial burden, but the company may go ahead even without major incentives, one of the people said.Samsung has been looking into overseas chipmaking for years. Intensifying trade tensions between the U.S. and China and now Covid-19 are stoking uncertainty over the reliability and economics of the global supply chain. Plants in the U.S. could help the Korean chipmaker strike better deals with key clients in the U.S., particularly in competition with TSMC.From Microsoft Corp. to Amazon.com Inc. and Google, the world’s largest cloud computing firms are increasingly designing their own silicon, aiming to tailor chips to power their vast datacenters more efficiently. All need manufacturers like TSMC or Samsung to turn their blueprints into reality.Samsung’s U.S. branch purchased land in October right next to its existing Austin fab, which is capable of running older processes. The Austin City Council held a meeting in December to discuss Samsung’s request to rezone that parcel of land for industrial development, according to meeting minutes.Read more: Samsung Intensifies Chip Wars With Bet It Can Catch TSMC by 2022Some analysts question Samsung’s ability to carve out a significant share of a market dominated by TSMC, which is spending a record $28 billion this year to ensure it remains at the forefront of both technology and sheer capacity. For its part, Samsung’s semiconductor division spent $26 billion on capital expenditure in 2020, but that’s been largely in support of its dominant memory business and not all of its expertise in making memory is directly relevant to creating advanced logic chips.Processors are more complex to manufacture than memory and their production yields are harder to control and scale up in the same way. Foundry customers also require bespoke solutions, imposing another barrier to rapid expansion and also making Samsung dependent on customers’ designs. But the Korean giant can draw confidence from its work with Nvidia, whose chief executive officer has sung Samsung’s praises in collaborating on the manufacturing for its latest graphics card silicon.(Updates with analyst’s comment from the fifth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Fri, 22 Jan 2021 08:30:22 +0000Read moreGoogle Threatens to Remove Search as Australian Row Deepens
(Bloomberg) -- Google threatened to disable its search engine in Australia if it’s forced to pay local publishers for news, a dramatic escalation of a months-long standoff with the government.A proposed law, intended to compensate publishers for the value their stories generate for the company, is “unworkable,” Mel Silva, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, told a parliamentary hearing Friday. She specifically opposed the requirement that Google pay media companies for displaying snippets of articles in search results.Google Sees Deal Within Reach on World-First Law to Pay for NewsThe threat is Google’s most potent yet as the digital giant tries to stem a flow of regulatory action worldwide, but such a radical step would hand an entire developed market to rivals. At least 94% of online searches in Australia go through the Alphabet Inc. unit, according to the local competition regulator.“We don’t respond to threats,” Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday. “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our parliament. It’s done by our government. And that’s how things work here in Australia.”Facebook Inc., the only other company targeted by the legislation, also opposes the law. The social media platform reiterated at Friday’s hearing it’s considering blocking Australians from sharing news on Facebook if the law is pushed through.Facebook Sends World a Warning With Threat to Australian NewsThe legislation is designed to support a local media industry, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., that has struggled to adapt to the digital economy. Google’s tougher stance drew rebukes from lawmakers at the hearing, with Senator Andrew Bragg accusing the tech giant of trying to blackmail Australians and policymakers.“If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” Silva told a panel of senators. She described the law as an “untenable financial and operational precedent.”But the Mountain View, California-based company has adapted to similar requests in other countries without cutting off search. Google stopped showing news results from European publishers on search results for French users last year after local regulators urged it to pay for content, and then on Thursday the firm said it reached a deal to pay media publishers in the country. In 2014, it shuttered Google News in Spain following new copyright legislation.‘Control and Power’Google is behaving like a corporate bully, said Johan Lidberg, an associate professor at Melbourne’s Monash University who specializes in media and journalism.“It’s about control and power,” he said. “They’re signaling to other regulators they’ll have a fight on their hands if they do this.”Silva proposed Google’s News Showcase, where the company pays select media outlets to display curated content, as an alternative to the Australian legislation. Since the service isn’t available in Australia, Senator Bragg said it was impossible to assess its value to the local market.“All we’ve got today is your threats and your blackmail,” he told Silva.(Updates with comment from academic in the ninth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Fri, 22 Jan 2021 05:29:43 +0000Read moreGoogle threatens to pull its search engine from Australia
Google on Friday threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government went ahead with plans to make tech giants pay for news content.
Fri, 22 Jan 2021 04:21:00 +0000Read moreAustralian local govt PR website given 'news' status by Google, Facebook
Google and Facebook Inc have granted an Australian local government news provider status, drawing questions about the internet giants' efforts to curate news media. Bundaberg Council, a regional government, told Reuters a website it runs received classification as a Google "news source", making it the country's first local government with that accreditation. That means a council-funded website containing only public relations content gets priority in Google News searches about the agriculture hub of 100,000 people, accompanied by a "news source" tag.
Fri, 22 Jan 2021 04:00:57 +0000Read moreWhy Google Is Threatening To Deprive Australians Of Its Search Engine
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) subsidiary Google will withdraw its search feature in Australia if the country's government goes ahead with implementing a law that would force the tech giant and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) to pay local media for their content, Reuters reported Friday (Sydney time). What Happened: The Mountain View, California company's managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Mel Silva, told a committee of the Australian Senate that the law's "arbitration model with bias criteria presents hours session, while the Class C shares were up 0.33%.See more from Benzinga * Click here for options trades from Benzinga * Netflix To Rollout 'Shuffle Play' Feature Around The World In Coming Months * Why Gevo Shares Surged Another 72% Today(C) 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Fri, 22 Jan 2021 03:22:27 +0000Read more