--- title: "Samsung builds a second Texas fab on a $44 billion site while TSMC only sends scouts" description: "Samsung announced a second, bigger 2nm fab in Taylor, Texas on October 16, one day after TSMC confirmed it is only scouting the state. One foundry is building before it has the customers; the other has the customers and has built nothing in Texas yet." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Silicon" published: 2026-10-17T15:16:38.198Z modified: 2026-10-17T15:16:38.198Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/samsung-builds-a-second-texas-fab-on-a-44-billion-site-while-tsmc-only-sends-scouts language: en keywords: "Samsung, TSMC, Semiconductors, Texas, Foundry" --- # Samsung builds a second Texas fab on a $44 billion site while TSMC only sends scouts > Samsung announced a second, bigger 2nm fab in Taylor, Texas on October 16, one day after TSMC confirmed it is only scouting the state. One foundry is building before it has the customers; the other has the customers and has built nothing in Texas yet. On October 16, [Samsung](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/samsung) gathered reporters beside its half-finished Taylor, Texas fab, where Jonathan Taylor, executive vice president of Infra Technology at Samsung Austin Semiconductor, said the company will build a second plant next door. Fab 2 will make 2-nanometer chips, run one and a half times the size of Fab 1, break ground in early November and finish in 2030, with roughly 3,500 direct jobs across the campus once both plants operate [1]. Alongside the announcement came [$22.84 million in community and workforce investments](https://www.kxan.com/news/business/new-texas-samsung-chip-plant-2nm/) across Central Texas, including Taylor ISD career programs [1]. The first Taylor plant only reaches full operations at the end of 2026 [1]. Samsung has already [committed $44 billion to the site](https://theinference.org/article/samsung-s-foundry-revival-is-samsung-buying-from-samsung) [2], and it is adding a second fab before the first one has produced a full quarter of output. ## TSMC has the customers and only scouts The day before, at its Q3 earnings call on October 15, [TSMC](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/tsmc) confirmed it has [dispatched site-evaluation teams to Texas](https://eastasiabrief.com/semiconductors/tsmc-weighs-texas-fab-campus-broaden-us-foundry-footprint-737) to assess a second US campus beyond Arizona, with CEO C.C. Wei announcing the technical review while no board approval exists and no acreage or jurisdictions named [2]. TSMC has a record quarter behind it: NT$1,494.24 billion in revenue, up 50.9% year over year, a $265 billion Arizona pledge including a $100 billion July tranche, and 2026 capex guidance of $60 billion to $64 billion [2]. ## Samsung builds before it has customers The complication is who actually holds the customers. TSMC holds [72.5% of the advanced packaging market](https://www.sammyfans.com/2026/10/16/samsung-eyes-silicon-photonics-acquisition-to-challenge-tsmc/) against Samsung's 5.9% [3], and [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia), [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple) and [AMD](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amd) buy virtually all their high-volume chips from TSMC; Nvidia's [Jensen Huang](https://theinference.org/markets/people/jensen-huang) says 100% of his company's core business goes there [3]. Samsung's named 2nm anchor customer is [Tesla](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/tesla) [3]. TSMC can afford to scout; Samsung has to fill. And Samsung is squeezed from below too: Chinese newcomer CXMT has lifted its global DRAM revenue share to 10% in the second quarter, from 4% a year earlier, while Samsung holds the lead at 38% [3]. *Chart: **CXMT's DRAM share jumped from 4% to 10% while Samsung builds its foundry bet** Bar chart of global DRAM revenue share, Q2 2026: Samsung 38%, SK Hynix 25%, Micron 24%, CXMT 10%.* *Global DRAM revenue share by vendor, second quarter 2026, percent, per Counterpoint Research data as reported by Sammy Fans, October 17, 2026. [3]* ## Tool vendors get paid either way Both foundries would fight over the same Texas subsidies and engineers, and TSMC's arrival would put it inside Samsung's primary production corridor [2]. The tailwind either way is equipment spending: SEMI projects Americas 300mm fab equipment investment [more than doubling from $18.1 billion in 2026 to $40.6 billion by 2029](https://semiengineering.com/chip-industry-week-in-review-160/) [4], and [Applied Materials](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/applied-materials), [Lam Research](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/lam-research) and Tokyo Electron anticipate secondary installation revenue if TSMC adds a second US state, with duplicated maintenance hubs between Phoenix and central Texas [2]. ## What decides it What to watch: whether Samsung lands a second named 2nm customer before Fab 2's 2030 completion, and whether TSMC's Texas review, which precedes its [annual capital allocation](https://theinference.org/article/goldman-lifts-tsmc-s-2028-capex-to-98-billion-while-pushing-the-texas-payoff-past-2032) ahead of a January 2027 board meeting, turns the scouts into shovels [2]. Investors pressing the trade should weigh Samsung's utilization risk on a $44 billion campus whose named customer list starts with Tesla [2][3] against the equipment makers booked on both campuses [2][4]. ## Takeaway Samsung is building a second Taylor, Texas fab before its first one reaches full output, while TSMC with 72.5% of advanced packaging only scouts; the trade is Samsung's utilization risk against equipment makers booked on both campuses. ## Sources 1. [KXAN, New Texas Samsung chip plant, 2nm (16 October 2026)](https://www.kxan.com/news/business/new-texas-samsung-chip-plant-2nm/) 2. [East Asia Brief, TSMC weighs Texas fab campus to broaden US foundry footprint (17 October 2026)](https://eastasiabrief.com/semiconductors/tsmc-weighs-texas-fab-campus-broaden-us-foundry-footprint-737) 3. [Sammy Fans, Samsung eyes silicon photonics acquisition to challenge TSMC (16 October 2026)](https://www.sammyfans.com/2026/10/16/samsung-eyes-silicon-photonics-acquisition-to-challenge-tsmc/) 4. [Semiconductor Engineering, Chip Industry Week In Review (16 October 2026)](https://semiengineering.com/chip-industry-week-in-review-160/) --- Samsung builds a second Texas fab on a $44 billion site while TSMC only sends scouts — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/samsung-builds-a-second-texas-fab-on-a-44-billion-site-while-tsmc-only-sends-scouts