KYEC keeps $1.3B Texas chip testing plant on track for 2027

King Yuan Electronics isn't blinking. General manager Gauss Chang said the Taiwanese company's debut US testing facility in Fort Worth remains on schedule, even as political uncertainty swirls around the US midterm elections and what a changed Congress might do to AI policy.

The numbers behind the build are big. The Fort Worth project carries a budget of more than $1.3 billion, with high-volume production targeted for as early as April 2027. KYEC's 2026 capital expenditures have reached a record $1.45 billion, and $614 million of that has already been greenlit for US investment.

Nvidia is the engine. The AI chip giant has committed a $1.1 billion prepayment to reserve testing capacity at the US site — a signal that the biggest buyer of AI silicon will pay directly to secure domestic capacity at every stage, not just fabrication.

KYEC has already bought the land and started sourcing equipment. The parcel cost $79.35 million for 1.18 million square feet, including roughly 489,500 square feet of existing buildings. The 27-acre site will hold a 507,000-square-foot facility, with construction set to begin in late October 2026.

Fort Worth's City Council approved tax incentives tied to hiring. KYEC is expected to create at least 630 full-time roles by the end of 2031, paying average salaries above $80,000.

Backend testing — checking finished semiconductors before they ship — has long been concentrated in Asia, especially Taiwan. Shifting part of that work to Texas puts it closer to US customers and cuts the number of ocean crossings a finished chip makes before deployment. Still, construction doesn't start until late October 2026, and the April 2027 target is framed as "as early as," leaving room to slip. Filling 630 skilled jobs by 2031 means competing in a labor market every US chip project is fighting over.