Texas’ capital city is living up to its reputation as the U.S. city most poised to quickly recover from the economic downturn. Forbes, for one, made this prediction last summer when it said the Austin-Round Rock area tops the list of “best cities for recession recovery.” Then, on June 9, as if on script, Samsung Electronics, Seoul, South Korea, announced it will invest $3.6 billion to expand the capacity of its existing semiconductor plant in Austin. The investment in the 300-acre Austin campus, the company’s only semiconductor fabrication site outside South Korea, will build out the second phase of its 2.3-million-sq-ft semiconductor manufacturing facility.
W.S. Han, present of Samsung Austin Semiconductor, says the investment ensures “Austin’s premier status as a center for semiconductor research and manufacturing.”