By Megan Pollock, Vice President, Strategic Communications
Samsung believes in long-term partnerships. In 2017, when our team was planning Samsung’s first US-based appliance manufacturing unit (SEHA) in Newberry County, South Carolina, that belief was at the heart of our mission. We understand that our success will grow from roots based on the community and on the economic success of the state in general.
Today, I am proud to say that this approach has borne fruit. We not only fulfilled, but exceeded the commitments we made in 2017. The original plan was to invest US $ 350 million and support almost 1,000 full-time jobs. Earlier this year, we invested $ 470 million and employed more than 1,200 people at SEHA’s facilities (90% of which are local in Newberry County or neighboring counties).
We were confident in this approach, because it is not new to us. It has been at the center of our 40-year investment in America. Over the past 24 years, we have invested more than $ 17 billion in our semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas. During that time, by building one of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing units in the world, we also built lasting relationships in the community and became one of the largest employers in the field.
As we examined our growing appliance business in the United States, we knew that establishing a manufacturing presence in the United States would allow us to deliver appliances to our customers more quickly and better reflect the preferences of American consumers. And we knew that our approach in Austin was the right script to follow.
We needed roots and relationships, because financial investment alone would not have guaranteed our success in South Carolina. To get where we are today, we have developed an extremely aggressive schedule and established a dedicated team committed to our shared success. Just six months after our initial announcement, we opened the doors of SEHA and produced our first residential washing machine in the United States. Since that day, we have established two production lines, produced well over a million washing machines – all sold in the United States, tripled the square footage of the facility and almost doubled our initial staff.
And our relationships also extend outside of our investments and supply chain. Samsung cannot thrive in a community that does not. So while our team was working hard on building washing machines, we were also in the community building partnerships. To date, we have donated more than $ 300,000 to South Carolina communities and veterans. We have partnered with incredible organizations like Harvest Hope Food Bank, American Legion, Fisher House, Boys Farm, Newberry Public School System and more.
I am very proud of what we have built and established in South Carolina, but nothing I say can compare to hearing from our SEHA employees and our friends in South Carolina who made it all possible.