Samsung to Choose Taylor, Texas, for $17B Chip-Making Factory

wsj.com

10 points·barbacoa··7 comments

For those less familiar, Samsung first built Action Austin (nand flash) up in Round Rock about 12 years ago. Taylor is just a bit further north east.

The thing I tend to ask, assuming chip factories consume a bunch of water, is how this will impact Central Texas water availability in the decades to come. You already have the worlds largest waterpark in Round Rock, and the older fab. Taylor is likely more associated with the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer rather than Edwards.

Great question and I hope this gets answered.

Most industries in the US only care if a location has water capacity rather than sustainability issues.

There is a ton of surface water availability in Central Texas, for example the city of Austin gets its water from the Colorado River, not the aquifer. As far as I can tell there isn't really a significant depletion problem with the Edwards Aquifer (especially compared to one like the Ogallala); seems like the issues are about the recharge zone being in the urban area and therefore possible contamination from runoff, reduced pressure in springs harming endangered species, and arguably NIMBYism in and around the recharge zone.

$17B - that’s a huge amount of money. I wonder if Intel is sweating a bit with Samsung now 2 states away.

I also would like to see if this economic move with Texas will parlay into less patent trolls coming out of East Texas courts.

Taylor is just north of Round Rock, so part of the greater Austin area. It's pretty close to the current Samsung facility. I don't think this is East Texas jurisdiction.

Taylor, TX is not in Eastern TX, and eastern TX courts’ patent trolling were neutered by Supreme Court in May 2017:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TC_Heartland_LLC_v._Kraft_Food...

Better get more backup generators.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com