Nvidia supplier's chip-testing arm weighs a $1.3 billion plant off Everman Parkway; council votes Tuesday on a tax break

A Taiwanese semiconductor testing company that supplies chipmaker Nvidia is considering south Fort Worth for its first U.S. manufacturing plant, and council members are set to decide Tuesday, Oct. 27, whether to offer incentives to win it.

Council members got the details at their Oct. 20 work session, the Fort Worth Report reported. The company, AeternZ Semiconductor Testing Corp., is a subsidiary of King Yuan Electronics Co., which tests and assembles chips for Nvidia and other manufacturers and reports more than 9,500 employees.

The site and the deal

The proposed plant would sit on 23 acres at 273 W. Everman Parkway in the Fort Worth South Business Park, which city staff called the largest investment yet along the Interstate 35W South corridor. It would handle back-end semiconductor work, including testing and assembly, and include clean rooms.

Under the economic development department's proposal, the city would forgive up to 65% of the new taxes owed on the plant's real estate and business equipment for 10 years, with the total capped at $50 million. In return, the company would have to:

• put at least $1 billion into buildings and other real property, plus $300 million in equipment and other business personal property;
• add 630 jobs no later than 2031, with an average salary of at least $80,000 and a combined annual payroll of $50 million;
• aim to spend 30% of its real property improvement dollars with area small businesses.

If the company misses its commitments, it would lose the abatement, according to the city.

Other sites in the running

Brianna Brown, assistant economic development director, told the council that another North Texas site and a location in another state are also in the running. Separately, AeternZ is pursuing money from the state's Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund.

In June, King Yuan announced a $1.4 billion U.S. investment plan, Reuters reported. Nvidia announced Wednesday that it would prepay King Yuan $1.1 billion to lock in testing capacity in the U.S.

Landing it would top the string of Taiwan-based electronics makers that have chosen the city recently. Wistron began work in July on two AI supercomputer facilities at AllianceTexas, a $761 million investment expected to bring more than 800 jobs, and Foxlink, also in July, began operating its first plant on the continent, with 900 jobs planned.

Brown told the council that another chip-related plant would help build a semiconductor cluster in the city.

Sources

fortworthreport.org