Texas State Technical College Wins $3.5M for Semiconductor Training

Texas State Technical College (TSTC) will receive $3.5 million from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund to expand its workforce development efforts in the semiconductor industry.

The funding will support the transformation of instructional and laboratory space at TSTC’s Williamson County campus in Hutto into a dedicated training facility for semiconductor and electromechanical technologies.

The Accelerated Semiconductor Technician Training Program delivers a 10-week, modular curriculum designed to prepare students for jobs as equipment and process technicians and gas control system specialists. Training will include instruction in a wafer processing facility equipped with a mock cleanroom that replicates industry-standard environments.

“Texas maintains its investment in high-demand skills training to open the door for Texans to have better jobs and bigger paycheck opportunities,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in the grant’s announcement. “With this TSIF grant, TSTC will transform existing instructional and lab space into a training facility focused on semiconductor and electromechanical workforce development.”

The grant is issued through the Texas CHIPS Act, which was signed into law in 2023. The act created the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund and the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium, administered by the Texas CHIPS Office within the Governor’s Economic Development and Tourism Office.

TSTC is the latest institution to receive funding through the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, joining a group of universities and colleges supporting the state’s high-tech workforce goals. In December, Prairie View A&M University was awarded $1.98 million to launch a training program in advanced 3D heterogeneous integration microelectronics in partnership with the Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute. Around the same time, the University of Texas at Austin received $4.8 million to establish QLab, a quantum-enhanced semiconductor metrology facility aimed at improving chip manufacturing at the atomic scale.

Temple College was also selected for a $9.8 million grant to create the Central Texas Chips Hub in Taylor. That regional initiative, developed with Texas A&M University — Central Texas, offers credential-based and degree programs to train technicians for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Together, these awards reflect the state’s emphasis on research infrastructure and workforce readiness as it builds out its semiconductor ecosystem.