Samsung Begins Installing 2nm Equipment at $44B Taylor, Texas Fab as EUV Trials Go Live

By NineScrolls Team · 2026-03-25 · 3 min read · Industry

First 2nm Equipment Arrives in Taylor

Samsung's Taylor, Texas fab has begun receiving its first batch of semiconductor manufacturing equipment compatible with the 2nm process node. EUV lithography trial operations kicked off this month at Taylor Fab 1, with sequential installation of etching and deposition tools planned to follow immediately. The facility — the largest foreign direct investment in Texas history at $17 billion for the initial phase — obtained its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy in early February 2026 and now has approximately 7,000 workers on site daily.

Full-scale production is targeted for the second half of 2026, though industry analysts expect mass production may slip to early 2027. Samsung recently achieved 50% yield on its 2nm pilot line, compared to TSMC's reported 70–90% yields at the same node.

The 4nm-to-2nm Pivot

In a major strategic shift, Samsung scrapped its original plan to produce 4nm chips at Taylor and revised its equipment purchase orders to accommodate 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor technology. The move positions Samsung as the first chipmaker to bring 2nm GAA capacity to U.S. soil — a direct challenge to TSMC, which has so far kept its most advanced production nodes in Taiwan.

A key demand driver behind the pivot is Samsung's reported $16.5 billion deal with Tesla to manufacture AI6 autonomous driving chips. Samsung has also completed basic design work on a second-generation 2nm variant (SF2P) and is developing a third iteration (SF2P+) for deployment within two years.

Capacity Targets and Production Timeline

Samsung has more than doubled its initial capacity target at Taylor from 20,000 wafer starts per month (WPM) to 50,000 WPM, with a goal of reaching 100,000 WPM by 2027. The 4.85-million-square-meter site exceeds Samsung's combined Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong facilities in South Korea, and the company has secured space for up to 10 additional fabs at the location.

Initial manufacturing is targeted to begin in Q2 2026 following the current EUV trial phase, with 1,500 permanent employees expected on site by year-end 2026.

Samsung's Record $73B Semiconductor Spend

The Taylor buildout is part of Samsung's 110 trillion won ($73.24 billion) semiconductor capital expenditure plan for 2026 — a 128% increase from 2025's 47.5 trillion won and the largest single-year semiconductor investment by any company in history. ASML, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Lam Research are the primary equipment suppliers benefiting from this spending surge, which encompasses EUV lithography systems and advanced deposition and etch tools across Samsung's global fab network.

What This Means for Plasma Processing and Thin Film Deposition

Samsung's 2nm GAA process is one of the most deposition- and etch-intensive nodes ever manufactured. Gate-All-Around transistors require precise multi-step atomic layer deposition (ALD) of nanosheet channel stacks — alternating layers of silicon and silicon-germanium that must be deposited with sub-angstrom thickness control. After patterning, selective plasma etch processes remove the sacrificial SiGe layers while preserving the silicon nanosheets, a step that demands extreme selectivity from etch chambers.

The Taylor fab's sequential installation plan — EUV lithography first, then etch and deposition tools — reflects the critical-path dependency of these systems. Every 2nm wafer will pass through dozens of PECVD, ALD, and plasma etch steps for gate stack formation, spacer deposition, contact metallization, and back-end interconnect layers. Equipment suppliers including Applied Materials (Sym3, Viva platforms), Lam Research (Kiyo, Striker product lines), and Tokyo Electron (Episode platform) are positioned to capture significant share of Samsung's record-breaking capex cycle.

For the broader equipment supply chain — plasma source manufacturers, sputtering target suppliers, vacuum component makers, gas delivery systems, and process monitoring tool vendors — Samsung's 50,000 WPM capacity target at Taylor alone represents a substantial and sustained demand signal through 2027 and beyond.