First Samsung Warehouses at Austin Chip Factory Cost $107M

Samsung’s $17 billion semiconductor facility outside Austin continues coming together.

The South Korean technology giant filed plans to build several warehouses totaling 230,000 square feet as part of its massive manufacturing facility in Taylor. While filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation are preliminary, the work’s estimated price tag is $107 million, or about $465 per square foot.

Construction at 1530 FM 973 is expected to start in April and run through March 2024. Samsung previously said it aimed to break ground on the project in the first half of 2022, so these warehouse facilities will be among the first structures built at the site. The firm aims to run some operations at the facility by the second half of 2024.

Samsung already operates a manufacturing facility in Austin, but the new semiconductor facility may just be the tip of the iceberg. The company is reportedly considering spending up to $200 billion on chip plants in Texas over the coming decades as both political parties push for increased investment in domestic computer chip supply chains.

A previous filing with the TDLR forecasts more nine-figure buildings to come, including two fabrication plants costing $950 million and $300 million apiece. That filing also mentions a $150 million corporate office spanning 350,000 square feet and a $15 million parking garage.

In exchange for its hefty investments in the region, Samsung has sought $500 million in tax breaks under the Chapter 313 tax abatement program. The popular incentive program drew massive corporate investment to Texas, but recently expired and has yet to be resurrected by the legislature as detractors argue that the program is an excessive giveaway.

Houston-based Page Southerland Page is listed as the project architect.

Industrial facilities for technology have become one of the hottest asset classes in Central Texas. Just 1.3 percent of the 154.7 megawatts of data center inventory in the Austin and San Antonio market was vacant at the end of last year, according to a recent report from CBRE. That gives the Austin-San Antonio area the second-lowest vacancy rate for data centers in the country behind Northern Virginia.