University of Texas President Jay Hartzell and Samsung Austin Semiconductor President Bonyoung Koo have announced a partnership to boost the region's semiconductor talent.
Samsung Semiconductor and the University of Texas are partnering to build a talent pipeline for the Austin area's semiconductor industry, which is expected to see growth in coming years.
The partnership, announced Friday during UT's Semiconductor Day event, is expected to formalize and strengthen ties between the technology giant and the university, and it comes with a $3.7 million donation from Samsung Electronics. Subsidiary Samsung Semiconductor has two manufacturing facilities in Austin and is building another in Taylor. It will contribute $1 million of the donation to the Cockrell School of Engineering, and the parent company will contribute $2.7 million to the school, with an emphasis on research and development.
UT President Jay Hartzellsaid at the event that the investment will help UT recruit and train the next generation of students and faculty researchers in the Cockrell School and related majors across UT, and that it will help the university become the premier semiconductor education and research university.
"This partnership will create opportunities for students across UT-Austin interested in a critically important semiconductor industry. The future of this industry is still being written," Hartzellsaid.
A portion of the funding will go to scholarships for 40 undergraduate students and fellowships for 10 graduate students and to support capstone projects and other student work. The donation will also be used to modernize Cockrell's undergraduate Fab Lab, which helps prepare students for careers in the semiconductor industry through hands-on learning.
UT students will also participate in Samsung's internship program. The company noted that it has already had hundreds of interns from UT and that hundreds of graduates work for Samsung.
Roger Bonnecaze, dean of the Cockrell School, said the partnership ultimately helps create opportunities for graduates to stay in the region, and for students and researchers to have expanded resources while still at UT.
"In the end, all of this is about workforce development and developing cutting edge technologies," Bonnecaze said.
Praising the UT-Samsung partnership Friday were, from left, Roger Bonnecaze, dean of UT's Cockrell School of Engineering; U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas.
Partnership comes as Samsung continues build out in Central Texas
Samsung has had a presence in Austin since 1997 and is building a $17 billion chip factory in Taylor. The company could grow even more in Central Texas, according to an incentive filing last year for as many as 11 additional fabrication facilities in the coming decades, though the company has said it does not have concrete plans.
Samsung Austin Corporate Vice President Jon Taylor said the company's partnership with UT will help provide needed workers for the $17 billion facility being built in Taylor.
Jon Taylor, corporate vice president for Samsung Austin Semiconductor, said the factory under construction will need at least 2,000 employees, including a large number of engineers.
"We hire all different disciplines of engineering, and this partnership with UT is really going to help provide those engineers for that new factory today and tomorrow," Taylor said. "As we continue to grow in the area we will need more employees, and this ongoing partnership with the University of Texas will help us fulfill those workforce needs."
Taylor said the United States has seen a dip in its own production, noting that around 1990 the U.S. manufactured about 37% of the world's semiconductors, compared with just 12% today. He expects both federal and state semiconductor legislation and programs such as the UT partnership to play crucial roles in increasing that number again.
"When you go from 37% down to 12%, people don't think of semiconductors or anything in the semiconductor ecosystem for a career," he said. "When you start launching programs like this one at the University of Texas, that's going to give people a lot of information on semiconductors and allow them to participate and to learn about it and decide that could be a good career."
Construction of the Samsung facility in Taylor shows substantial progress last month.
Outside of Samsung, the Austin metro area has a notable existing semiconductor ecosystem, with companies including NXP, Applied Materials and Infineon. Semiconductors already are about a quarter of all manufacturing output in the region, according to the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association, a number expected to increase with the passage of the CHIPS Act.
Companies including Applied Materials and Infineon have been considering their own expansions in Central Texas, and in May, Toppan Photomasks, which makes a key component for semiconductor manufacturing, announced it was adding to its Round Rock facility after the city approved a $1.25 million incentive package.
UT President Jay Hartzell, Samsung Austin Semiconductor President Bonyoung Koo, Samsung Austin Corporate Vice President Jon Taylor, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett were among stakeholders at UT's Semiconductor Day on Friday.
Central Texas expected to see boost from recent semiconductor legislation
The partnership announcement comes about a year after federal legislation was passed to boost the nation's semiconductor industry. It is expected to bring unprecedented investment in the industry in the United States. Central Texas is among a handful of regions expected to see a significant impact from the legislation, which was passed amid a global shortage of semiconductors.
The federal legislation sets aside more than $52 billion for companies that manufacture computer chips. It includes billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in chip manufacturing and tens of billions to fund scientific research and encourage development of other U.S. technologies. The act drew support from Texas politicians including U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who led efforts to pass it.
At Friday's announcement, Cornyn praised the partnership, saying it is an important step forward in UT and Samsung's relationship, and that collaboration between academic institutions is important not only for companies, but also to keep the region competitive nationally.
"Institutions like the University of Texas and our great university system of community colleges, like Austin Community College, play such an important role to train that workforce so that great companies like Samsung continue to invest and grow in places like Austin," Cornyn said.
He added that the partnership and talent pipeline are "part of the audition" for CHIPS Act funding and further investment by the industry.
"We're competing with other parts of the country, other states, other academic regions, and so I think this collaboration of industry, academia and elected officials is critical to our continued growth," Cornyn said. "Nothing is more important (than) seeing companies like Samsung represented."
While funding hasn't been distributed yet from the federal legislation, Central Texas is expected to remain competitive even as more than 460 companies in 41 states have expressed interest since formal applications opened in June. Still, industry experts have said a skilled workforce will be key for the Austin area.
On a state level, the Legislature passed its own "CHIPS Act," which was signed into law earlier this year, creating a state fund and a consortium with representatives from Texas higher education institutions. It follows steps the state has taken to bolster its semiconductor dominance, including the formation of a task force by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, also praised the federal and state legislation at the event and emphasized the need for Austin to stay at the forefront, as states such as New York remain competitive for projects and research institutions. He added that UT has a head start because it has already established programs including the Texas Institute for Electronics, a public-private partnership between industry partners and academic institutions in the state.
"We can't let New York state — even though they have a lot of Democrats up there — we can't let them take all the money," Doggett said.
