SAMSUNG Electronics Co. Ltd.'s board of directors gave final approval Thursday night to a multi-billion dollar investment in a new 300mm fabrication plant in Austin.

Construction on the new plant will begin soon.

"Samsung Austin Semiconductor is delighted that the Samsung Board of Directors has shown its faith in the Austin facility by giving us the green light," says H.K. Park, president of Samsung Austin Semiconductor. "We will proceed with the building phase as quickly as possible."

Company officials would not give a definitive price tag on the total project, but said construction of the building would cost about $220 million. The project is expected to be finished in late 2007.

Initial estimates pegged a $3.5 billion investment for the plant, but the total figure could eventually top $5 billion. That would represent one of the largest single investments by a foreign company in the United States.

The plant could position Austin as a "next-generation center" for the semiconductor business, one of only five in the United States, according to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

The plant would create 900 jobs regionally, most of them paying an average of $60,000 a year, and would generate substantial business for other Austin companies. It also would secure Austin's future as a major chipmaking hub for at least the next decade.

Samsung already is spending $500 million to upgrade its existing Austin semiconductor plant, which opened in 1998. Samsung, the world's largest maker of computer chips, employs 1,250 workers at that plant.

lAustin Business Journal - 11:29 PM CDT Thursday