The Site for Samsung's Next Chip Plant
The city of Taylor and Williamson County in Texas, the United States, have approved a plan to provide incentives to Samsung Electronics, including property tax abatement, if the Korean company builds a US$17 billion foundry plant in the city.
Leaders of the city and the county held a joint meeting at the Taylor Independent School District events center on Sept. 8 (local time) and voted unanimously to approve multiple agreements with Samsung, local broadcaster KXAN reported.
The Williamson County Commissioners Court approved a plan to provide tax benefits for Samsung to build a semiconductor plant, with four in favor of the plan and zero against it.
The Commissioners Court is an organization involving judges, Williamson County and Taylor city's administrative officers, and determines the county's major administrative and tax policies.
According to an agreement between Samsung and Williams County, Samsung is required to build a semiconductor foundry of at least 6 million square feet by Jan. 31, 2026 and provide 1,800 full-time jobs.
On the premise that this condition is met, the county will refund 90 percent of the property tax paid by Samsung in the first 10 years and return 85 percent over the next 10 years. "The tax break conditions are advantageous to the county because they are based on Samsung's business performance," said Russ Boles, commissioner of County District 4 in a statement about the tax benefits, "The county will not collect taxes first and then refund them until Samsung meets the conditions to implement." The county predicted that if everything goes smoothly, ground will be broken for the factory in January 2022 and the factory will be fully operational by the end of 2024.
“A $17 billion Samsung semiconductor plant is a step closer to possibly landing in Taylor, after city and county leaders approved incentives for the tech company Wednesday evening,” KXAN reported.
However, Samsung said that the site of the semiconductor plant has not been finalized, and multiple candidate sites are still on its table. The Korean semiconductor giant has been brooding over five areas including Austin where Samsung is already operating a factory and Taylor, Arizona and New York.