AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas-10) toured Austin Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Academy, which trains newly-hired technicians for Austin semiconductor companies and provides dual-credit courses for high school students interested in semiconductor manufacturing careers.
The tour comes after both Cornyn and McCaul led a bipartisan effort in Congress to pass the funding bill for the CHIPS for America Act last month. The bill became law earlier this month as part of the CHIPS and Science Act.
Executives with semiconductor manufacturing plants in the area also attended the event and spoke about collaborating more with schools.
"We need to start working more with the universities, high schools, you know, break down the grammar school level and STEM. How do we get people more understanding of semiconductors and understand the great career, as Congressman McCaul mentioned, that they can have in semiconductor manufacturing," said Jon Taylor, Samsung's corporate vice president of fab engineering and public affairs.
The legislation provides $200 million to support workforce development programs, like the one offered by ACC, for the domestic semiconductor industry. The bill also provides $39 billion to build, expand and modernize U.S. chipmaking plants and $11 billion for semiconductor research and development to shore up domestic semiconductor production and manufacturing.
In 2020, both lawmakers advocated for the passage of the CHIPS for America Act to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. in an effort to secure the supply chain. The bill became law on Jan. 1, 2021.
The two lawmakers held a joint press conference after the tour where they talked about the importance of the new law and the positive economic impact it will have right here in Central Texas and throughout the nation.
"We know as Austin continues to be a big magnet in Texas generally for these very sophisticated manufacturing facilities, for example, semiconductor manufacturing, that it requires a workforce is trained to be able to perform those jobs," Cornyn said. "That's where institutions like ACC come into play, working with employers to define what are the skill set that those employees will need in order to qualify for these good, high-paying jobs."
"The good news is we're going to need [workforce programs] because we're going to have a lot of jobs here in Central Texas," McCaul said. "As we look at Samsung, the expansion there, I've talked to many other CEOs are very interested in the ecosystem that is here in Austin, whether it be ACC, the university, the tech community here as well, makes Austin and Central Texas really an ideal place to do these fabrication plants."
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