[단독] Samsung, US 20 trillion investment ultimatum… “Please reduce the cost of electricity and water”

It has been confirmed that Samsung Electronics has submitted a revised proposal requesting additional tax deductions, such as water tax cuts, to the US state of Texas for investment in a new semiconductor plant.

Through a local legal representative, Samsung Electronics sent an ultimatum to determine the direction of the investment of 20 trillion won by stating a stronger phrase, “If there is no tax deduction compensation, you can change the investment area for a new factory in Arizona, New York, and Korea.” Seems to be.

On the 13th, the Maeil Business Newspaper confirmed a tax deduction request proposal submitted by Samsung Electronics on February 26 through an Austin law firm on the tax complaint website operated by the state of Texas.

Earlier, this magazine confirmed the proposal first submitted by Samsung Electronics on January 18 and reported it alone, and other domestic media and foreign media followed it at once.

In the first proposal, which covers a total of 107 pages, Samsung Electronics explains in detail the economic effects of building a new astronomical semiconductor factory in Austin, which is close to 20 trillion won. ) And demanded that they be exempted from tax.

The state of Texas offers a tax relief (AVL) that exempts all or part of real estate and property growth for up to 10 years to attract large corporations, and Samsung Electronics has requested a reduction in compensation that is twice as long.

However, in the second proposal newly obtained by this magazine, Samsung Electronics was not satisfied with AVL, and added △rate reductions in utility costs such as electricity and water bills, and △other non-cash benefits.

Samsung Electronics faced a crisis of forcibly shutting down the Austin semiconductor plant as the power and water supply chain was cut off due to a strange wave that struck Texas last month. This is also the first issue reported by Maeil Economic Daily. The Austin plant has been shut down for a month, but the plant is still not normalized.

As a result, Samsung Electronics is predicting a loss of about 1 trillion won in average quarterly sales at the Austin plant. Samsung’s crisis and anxiety over the shutdown seems to be reflected in the background of the revised proposal for utility tax relief, which was not specified in the original proposal in January.

Another semiconductor company located near the Samsung Austin plant, NXP, has completed the initial restart inspection by the 15th and will begin fully operating from the middle of this week.

Even NXP, which has only half of its facilities and manpower compared to Samsung’s factory, announced its plans for full-scale operation next week on the 12th (local time) and announced that “This situation will lead us to lose more than 100 billion won in sales in the second quarter.” did.

Samsung Electronics, which has a more advanced and finer process than NXP, can expect complete normal operation from early April even if all manpower and resources are put in.

There is another reason why Samsung Electronics’ second proposal is actually interpreted as sending an ʻultimate note` to Texas and Austin.

In the first proposal, Samsung Electronics relatively youngly expressed the tax cut as’the decisive factor (to confirm investment in Austin)’.

However, in the proposed revised proposal, “Our project is very competitive and offers a variety of incentives, including robust property tax cuts in both Arizona, New York and Korea.” This means that Texas and the city of Austin must face the reality of such an attractive proposal from local governments in different candidates.

In the last sentence of the proposal, Samsung even nailed it to “locate the project” if Texas doesn’t accept Samsung’s request for tax cuts.

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