Lawmakers in Texas have allocated more than $1 billion to increase semiconductor manufacturing and research in the state.
In early June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a measure into law known as the Texas CHIPS Act, a proposal that would, according to the Texas Tribune, dedicate north of $1.3 billion to the state’s chip industry. About $698 million of that total would create a Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, which would, in turn, provide state subsidies to chip manufacturers with production operations in the state.
The remaining $666 million, meanwhile, would establish new semiconductor research and development hubs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Texas A&M University.
The legislation follows the federal CHIPS and Science Act approved last year, which provided more than $50 billion to boost domestic production of advanced chips. Passage of the measure spurred a race among states to secure subsidy-backed, multi-billion dollar semiconductor manufacturing projects.
Arizona has drawn the most interest from semiconductor makers, but Texas — already home to the nation’s second-largest chip industry among states — is in the second position with $60 billion in planned projects to date, including a $30 billion Texas Instruments facility in Sherman and a $17 billion Samsung campus in Taylor.
Texas officials have indicated that they hope to overtake California for the top semiconductor manufacturing state by the beginning of the next decade.
