Texas town annexes site of planned $17B Samsung plant

The tiny Texas town of Taylor is chipping away at some of the tax breaks Samsung will get on the $17 billion semiconductor factory it’s building next door.

The city annexed the 1,268-acre site where the South Korean company will build the 6-million-square-foot factory, meaning the company will pay the city more than $50 million in taxes over the next 30 years, the Austin Business Journal reported. Taylor’s City Council approved the move unanimously and established the base zoning for the plot at two Jan. 13 meetings.

Samsung said last year that it would build its second U.S. factory west of Taylor, a town of about 18,000 some 34 miles north of Austin in Williamson County. Local and state authorities negotiated about $981 million in incentives to lure the factory. They include a 30-year property-tax abatement from the city, set at 92.5 percent in the first decade and falling to 85 percent in the final 10 years. Samsung will still pay Taylor a projected $52 million in taxes, which will go into the city general fund. The company will also invest in about $6 million in buildings and $11 million in machinery in the town.

The incentives package required that the company’s land be annexed into Taylor city limits. Samsung filed an annexation petition on Dec. 9.

The city also gave the Samsung site designated heavy industrial zoning. The zoning comes with development standards that include the allowance of a private commissary, a maximum of 25 residences for employees and no more than two helicopter landing sites. The maximum building height is capped at 250 feet but has allowances to go higher based on how far it is from its 50-foot perimeter setbacks. There are also restrictions on how loud the factory site can be.

Samsung said the factory will bring 2,000 high-tech jobs directly to the area and will require about 6,000 workers to build. It’s also expected to stimulate the creation of thousands of related jobs and development in and around Taylor.

City and county officials worked quietly for about 10 months to land the project. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office called the deal “the largest foreign direct investment in Texas on record.”

Samsung said construction will start early this year. It’s projected to start operating by the second half of 2024.

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