Samsung laying off hundreds as it moves US electronics headquarters to Texas

South Korean tech giant Samsung is laying off hundreds amid a move of its U.S. electronics division headquarters to Texas, where it has operations in three cities. 

Samsung confirmed in June it was designating Plano as the headquarters of Samsung Electronics America, which is focused on consumer electronics and not involved with Samsung's booming semiconductor manufacturing business, which has operations in Austin and Taylor.

Now, 739 employees are being laid off or given relocation offers in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., the former location of Samsung Electronics America headquarters, "as part of our business transformation," the company said in an emailed response to questions. 

At least 100 people at its sprawling campus in Plano are also being laid off, according to a report from Reuters. 

The electronics division headquarters transition to North Texas is expected to be complete by the end of the year. 

Samsung announced the move less than a year after cutting the ribbon on a state-of-the-art campus in Englewood Cliffs, which was planned to house about 1,200 employees, according to a September statement from the area's U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer. That campus replaced Samsung Electronics America's headquarters in nearby Ridgefield Park, N.J., where Samsung had a presence since 1992. 

The electronics giant has long had significant business in North Texas, centered around the Legacy Central development in Plano. Operations were first consolidated there in 2019, before Samsung expanded the office by another 70,000 square feet in 2020. It then added another 60,000 square feet at another building in the development in 2021, and in 2023 added roughly 33,000 square feet of office space in a nearby office park. It also has warehouse and distribution space scattered across the region.

According to a notice Samsung filed in New Jersey, layoffs in Englewood Cliffs will go into effect Sept. 30. Records also show that Samsung SDS, a subsidiary that provides information technology services, filed notice of a potential layoff of 179 people in Ridgefield Park, N.J., in June.

Samsung's reductions in force come as the company faces competing futures. In the second quarter, per its most recent earnings guidance, operating profit grew 19-fold from a year earlier on the back of chip manufacturing, and Samsung is investing heavily in meeting artificial intelligence demand while trimming down its consumer electronics workforce.

Since 1996, Samsung Austin Semiconductor has had a facility operating two semiconductor fabrication plants in Austin and now is ramping up operations at a massive new semiconductor plant in Taylor, about 30 miles north of Austin. As of early this year, Samsung had about 4 million square of feet space on its Taylor campus, including a six-story office building.

But consumer electronics has not kept pace and faces cost pressures due to the rising prices of memory chips. 

Other technology companies have made similar moves investing in AI while trimming other business segments. Microsoft, which reported AI-driven revenue growth in its most recent earnings report, is laying off 4,800 employees concentrated in its commercial and Xbox segments, including more than 150 gaming employees at two Texas locations.

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