Biden administration agrees to provide $6.4 billion to Samsung for making computer chips in Texas

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas.

The funding announced Monday by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that, with private money, is expected to exceed $40 billion. The government support comes from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 with the goal of reviving the production of advanced computer chips domestically.

“The proposed project will propel Texas into a state of the art semiconductor ecosystem,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters. “It puts us on track to hit our goal of producing 20% of the world’s leading edge chips in the United States by the end of the decade.”

Raimondo said she expects the project will create at least 17,000 construction jobs and more than 4,500 manufacturing jobs.

Samsung's cluster in Taylor, Texas, would include two factories that would make four- and two-nanometer chips. Also, there would be a factory dedicated to research and development, as well as a facility for the packaging that surrounds chip components.

The first factory is expected to be operational in 2026, with the second being operational in 2027, according to the government.

The funding also would expand an existing Samsung facility in Austin, Texas.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Samsung will be able to manufacture chips in Austin directly for the Defense Department as a result. Access to advanced technology has become a major national security concern amid competition between the U.S. and China.

In addition to the $6.4 billion, Samsung has indicated it also will claim an investment tax credit from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The government has previously announced terms to support other chipmakers including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in projects spread across the country.

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about an agreement to provide Intel with up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans for computer chip plants in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon, at the Intel Ocotillo Campus, March 20, 2024, in Chandler, Ariz. The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas. The government has previously announced terms to support other chipmakers, including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., in projects that are spread across the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - The logo of the Samsung Electronics Co. is seen during a media tour at Samsung Electronics' headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, June 13, 2023. The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas. The funding announced Monday, April 15, 20204, by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that, with private money, is expected to exceed $40 billion. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

The White House is seen as dusk falls, Sunday, April 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

PARIS (AP) — French media are reporting that actor Gérard Depardieu is in police custody for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets.

Broadcaster BFMTV and the daily Le Parisien reported that the 75-year-old actor was summoned Monday morning by Paris police and placed in custody.

The Paris police force said it wasn't authorized to comment and directed questions to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor's office said it had no comment “at this stage."

“We have no information to communicate or confirm before having assessed any eventual charges and directions,” the office said in an email in response to questions from The Associated Press.

One of Depardieu’s lawyers, Christian Saint-Palais, was seen walking into a police station in the 14th district of Paris after lunching Monday at a nearby restaurant. He said he had no comment.

A lawyer for one of the alleged victims did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Depardieu has denied wrongdoing. In an open letter last October, he said: “I have never, ever abused a woman.”

BFMTV and Le Parisien reported that the police summons relates to accusations of sexual assault filed by two women who accuse him of groping during filming — one in 2014, the other in 2021.

The alleged 2014 assault was reported to police in January this year, Le Parisien reported.

The other alleged assault involved a 53-year-old movie decorator. She alleged that Depardieu grabbed her and kneaded her waist, stomach and breasts during filming for “Les Volets verts,” or “The Green Shutters,” according to the woman’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, when she filed the complaint to the Paris prosecutor’s office in February.

Depardieu has also been accused by more than a dozen other women of harassing, groping or sexually assaulting them. He was handed preliminary rape and sexual assault charges in 2020 following allegations from actor Charlotte Arnould.

Depardieu was long seen as a national icon in France. He has been a global ambassador for French film and enjoyed international fame with several roles in Hollywood.

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AP correspondent John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, contributed.

Police officers stand outside the police station where French actor Gerard Depardieu is expected to be questioned, Monday, April 29, 2024 in Paris. French media are reporting that police have summoned actor Gérard Depardieu for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

View of the police station where French actor Gerard Depardieu is expected to be questioned, Monday, April 29, 2024 in Paris. French media are reporting that police have summoned actor Gérard Depardieu for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

FILE - Actor Gerard Depardieu addresses the media during the press conference for the film 'Saint Amour' at the 2016 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016. French media are reporting that police have summoned actor Gérard Depardieu for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets. Broadcaster BFMTV and the daily Le Parisien both reported that the 75-year-old actor was called in for police questioning in Paris on Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Axel Schmidt, File)