This week, Samsung Electronics will announce the construction site for the second U.S. semiconductor plant (foundry) in which Samsung Electronics will invest $17 billion (KRW 20 trillion). Taylor City, Texas, is one of the most likely locations. When Vice Chairman Jae-yong Lee, who is visiting the United States, returns to Korea on the 24th, and plans to announce location of where the plant will be built. During this business trip, Vice Chairman Lee met with political figures and discussed global issues as well as played the role of a 'private diplomat'.

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<Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jae-yong Lee (right) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met at the Microsoft headquarters in Washington State, U.S. on the 20th (local time). [Photo provided by Samsung Electronics]>

According to Samsung Electronics on the 21st, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jae-yong Lee, met with senior White House officials and key members of the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. to discuss overall issues in the semiconductor supply chain, including the second semiconductor plant during his visit to the U.S.
 
Vice Chairman Lee met with key members of the Federal Assembly in charge of the semiconductor incentive bill on the 18th (local time), and requested cooperation by passing the semiconductor incentive bill. A source from the U.S. Congress who met with Vice Chairman Lee said, “I know that the plant candidates has been narrowed down, and will be officially announced this week (in the near future).”
 
Samsung Electronics announced a plan to establish a second foundry plant worth $17 billion (KRW 20 trillion) and is finalizing the site selection. A likely candidate is Taylor, Texas. The City of Taylor has decided to provide huge incentives for Samsung Electronics to build a foundry plant.
 
If Samsung Electronics confirms the establishment of a U.S. foundry plant, the U.S. can significantly expand its semiconductor production infrastructure in the country. The U.S. leads the world's best in semiconductor design, but was evaluated to be inferior to Asia in semiconductor manufacturing and production.
 
It is for this reason that TSMC and Intel, including Samsung Electronics, are actively seeking investment in U.S. semiconductor factories. By securing the U.S. production infrastructure, it becomes possible to strengthen the semiconductor development and local manufacturing ecosystem of major U.S. fabless such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, and IBM. It also was assessed positively that Samsung Electronics can also establish a close cooperation system with local customers.
 
Vice Chairman Lee then visited the White House in Washington, D.C. on the 19th and met with key White House officials. It was understood that they discussed ways to solve the problem of the semiconductor supply chain, which has emerged as a global issue, and the role of Samsung for the solution. Samsung Electronics is expected to respond to concerns about the U.S. semiconductor supply chain by announcing the plans of the plant this week, and expand its local production capacity.
 
After the Washington D.C meeting, Vice Chairman Lee went to the western part of the country to meet with executives of global ICT companies to discuss ways to cooperate in future strategic projects. On the 16th and 17th, Vice Chairman Lee met Moderna and Verizon executives, and visited representative ICT companies such as Microsoft (MS) and Amazon on the 20th.
 
Vice Chairman Lee met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and discussed on cooperation with next-generation technologies such as semiconductors, mobile, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and metaverse, as well as software 'ecosystem expansion’. Then, Vice Chairman Lee visited Amazon, and discussed on next-generation promising industries such as AI and cloud computing.
 
This was Vice Chairman Lee's first visit to the U.S. in five years and four months since attending the Sun Valley Conference in July 2016. In the business circle, this visit to the U.S. was assessed as a 'private diplomat’ move as a high Samsung representative, contributing to stabilize the global supply chain and to promote partnerships between the two countries by meeting local businessmen as well as key political figures in Washington, D.C.
 
By Staff Reporter Bong-kyun Ham and Dong-jun Kwon (hbkone@etnews.com, djkwon@etnews.com)