Samsung has announced that it will spend roughly $4 billion overhauling its chip manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, Reuters reports. The company plans to renovate is current production line there and boost system chip production. The money follows a $1.98 billion investment in a new chip plant in the company's home country of South Korea, and the conversion of two memory chip lines into ones for logic chips for clients like Apple.
Apple may in fact be the main beneficiary of the Austin expansion, since the plant is where the bulk of A-series chips used in devices like iPhones and iPads are produced. Combined with Samsung's efforts outside of Texas, it may support the idea that the company is fighting to keep up with Apple demand.
Even though Apple and Samsung are concluding a hard-fought trial this week, the companies are inextricably tied in business terms. Samsung has long supplied components like memory and processors to Apple, in part because it's one of the few companies that can manufacture enough units. Apple even relies on multiple assembly companies, namely Foxconn and Pegatron.
The Austin area may also benefit from Samsung's investment, though to what extent is unclear. The city is already getting an expanded Apple corporate presence that will eventually add over 3,600 jobs.
