Mmmm, chips.

Patent war or no, Samsung’s investment of $4 billion in a Texas microchip manufacturer proves two things: the company is in this for the long haul and the company has 4 billion bucks in a checking account. Yow. This comes after a 1.8 billion dollar investment in a South Korean plant earlier this year. It all comes down to being ready. Samsung has run into some slowdowns in its supply chain lately as demand for its smartphones and other electronics sometimes outpaces supply. And it comes at a time when Samsung has begun to emerge as the logical second company in smartphones and maybe even tablets. The Oates to Apple’s Hall. The Andrew Ridgely to Apple’s George Michael.

As that business grows and as Android itself perhaps expands the overall lead over iOS (Apple’s mobile operating system), Samsung is well positioned to be huge.

ZDNet says:

Samsung remains the world’s largest memory chip supplier by revenue as its chips — despite the company’s ongoing legal tussles with Apple — supplies memory chips to the iPhone and iPad maker.
To add a garnish of hope to the jobs at the plant, according to one Austin-based news company, a Samsung spokesperson confirmed the company would be “keeping all jobs intact,” and “will be doing a massive training of workers.”