TAYLOR, Texas (Nexstar) — Samsung will receive up to $6.4 billion in federal funding for its semiconductor manufacturing plant in Taylor, as part of Congress’ $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act meant to bolster American semiconductor manufacturing.

At the Samsung plant in Taylor Monday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the investment surrounded by leaders from the Korean company and a bipartisan pair of Texas congressmen.

“This investment will quite literally transform Central Texas,” Raimondo said. “It’s going to support a comprehensive, diverse, leading-edge manufacturing ecosystem here in Central Texas.”

Semiconductors, also known as chips, are materials essential to electronic devices. They power everything from computers to cars and military operations systems.

The Biden administration said Samsung and the U.S. Department of Commerce reached a preliminary agreement about the grant from the CHIPS Act, and that Samsung is expected to invest more than $40 billion dollars to the region in the coming years. This investment is expected to generate 21,500 jobs.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin — who co-authored the CHIPS Act with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — said this major investment in semiconductor production in the United States will be paramount in America’s ability to remain competitive globally.

“I can’t tell you what a big step forward this is, in terms of independence and the fact it’s made in America. It’s great for the economy and business,” McCaul told Nexstar. “I compare it to the Manhattan Project after World War II. What we’re doing today will make a difference in the great world competition that we have, particularly with China.”

In 2021, Samsung announced that it would be investing $17 billion to create the chipmaking plant in Taylor. The facility will be nearly 11 million square feet across almost 1,300 acres, a major footprint in the city of just 17,000 people — but it’s impact will reverberate worldwide.

Rep. McCaul and Sen. John Cornyn led the CHIPS Act through Congress after COVID threatened U.S. access to chips, identifying a need to to boost domestic manufacturing of the technology. McCaul said the industry is concentrated in Taiwan, which is under threat of invasion by China.

“If that ever occurred, they would either own or break this national security asset,” McCaul said. “We have to be more self-reliant on this critical national security asset.”

The CHIPS Act allocated more than $50 billion to build similar facilities nationwide.