The Austin American Statesman quotes Catherine Morse, Samsung's local general counsel, saying that the move will create more jobs. The executive believes that the firm will seek to employ a further 250 - 500 people in the expanded factory when its upgrades are finalized. That should be completed by mid-2017 and serves as a rare boost for Austin's now-shrinking chip-making economy.

It's also a sign that Samsung is looking to go it alone when taking on its global rivals in the chip manufacture wars. Its closest rivals are arguably TSMC, which produces the bulk of the chips for the iPhone, and Qualcomm, which recently announced that it would purchase NXP Semiconductor for $47 billion.