The US Department of Commerce unveiled plans to award Samsung up to $4.6 billion to expand its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities as part of an ongoing effort to reduce reliance on foreign-made chips.

In addition to the direct funding from the CHIPS and Science Act, President Joe Biden stated Samsung expects to invest more than $40 billion across its facilities in the state of Texas over the coming years.

President Biden noted Samsung will benefit from up to $40 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding to train and develop the local workforce. The project will create 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs over the next five years.

The planned semiconductor ecosystem in Texas will include two logic fabrications, an R&D centre, an advanced packaging facility and an expansion of Samsung’s existing facility.

Chips manufactured in the new set up will be used across communications, automotive and defence industries, along with high-performance computing and AI.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated the chips Samsung will manufacture in the nation “are important components to our most advanced technologies, from AI to high-performance computing and 5G communications”.

The funding for Samsung is the third-largest from the CHIPS and Science Act behind TSMC’s $6.6 billion and Intel’s $8.5 billion.