COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – This week’s Texas Semiconductor Summit brought some celebrities to town for a fireside chat on Thursday.
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul and Senator John Cornyn met with a group of industry leaders and experts at the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center to discuss the future of the U.S. semiconductor industry. The room was packed with experts, researchers and policy makers as the parliamentarian took to the stage to emphasize the need for cooperation and innovation.
Senator Cornyn and Congressman McCaul sounded the alarm early on about the need to bring this manufacturing back to the United States in 2020. The program was launched when a car shortage hit the United States, citing a shortage of semiconductors, also known as chips. This is when the CHIPS Act was born and continues to expand. Texas approved its own CHIPS Act just two years later, and since then, $450 billion has been invested in the industry across the country.
Sen. Cornyn spoke about the incredible movement within the state to get this industry up and running.
“This bill resulted in nearly $60 billion in investments and the creation of nearly 25,000 jobs in Texas alone,” he said. “Texas A&M and the University provide significant brainpower, not only in terms of research and development, but also in terms of the training needed for these high-paying jobs.”
Congressman McCaul said it is imperative that his colleagues and the American people understand why this push is important.
“Taiwan currently manufactures 90% of the world’s advanced chip supply, making everything from cell phones to kitchen appliances to automobiles to cutting-edge weapons systems. We can no longer afford to move these national security assets offshore to countries that are at risk from adversaries like China,” Congressman McCall urged. “AI technology is the future of warfare. With unmanned aircraft on the ground and underwater, the air, land and sea will all be almost robotic. If you think about it, there will be great power competition with China in AI technology and quantum computing. We have to compete with them and win, or they will get there first and pursue global, economic and military domination.”
The congressman, one of the brightest minds on the project, teased the idea that future National Semiconductor Laboratory centers could be located in central Texas and Aggieland.
“Here in College Station, we have companies that we think are on the cutting edge of great innovation. The great workforce and engineers we have at Texas A&M and the University of Texas are a big part of why this center is here. “Yes,” Congressman McCall added.
Samsung’s facility in Taylor, outside Austin, is manufacturing and packaging semiconductors. This project alone is expected to produce 20% of the world’s semiconductor supply by 2030.
Records show that a cutting-edge venture company with a commitment of $10 billion in investment called American Foundry Bryan LLC/Project Factory One is coming to the RELLIS campus. An LLC application filed with the Texas Secretary of State indicates that more advanced semiconductor manufacturing can be expected directly from Aggieland.
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