Building a Scalable, Collaborative Semiconductor Workforce Ecosystem: Lessons from Texas

Texas is rapidly becoming a national model for semiconductor workforce development through the intentional coordination of its major educational and industry stakeholders. This presentation will highlight how key institutions—including the Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE) at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin Community College, the Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute, the North Texas Semiconductor Institute at the University of Texas at Dallas, and Dallas College—are working together to scale and align efforts across the state’s two major semiconductor ecosystems.

As one of the only states with more than one large and established semiconductor ecosystem, Texas has developed a multi-tiered strategy to grow, diversify, and regionalize talent pipelines while aligning with both state and national semiconductor priorities. These leaders will discuss how cross-institutional collaboration, aligned program development, and shared infrastructure are enabling the rapid expansion of workforce capacity in response to industry needs.

Attendees will learn how Texas is:
• Coordinating university and community college efforts to deliver stackable credentials and hands-on training aligned with industry demand.
• Leveraging the Texas CHIPS Act and state funding resources to support public-private workforce initiatives.
• Creating a unified strategy with common metrics and approaches that tap into our institutional and statewide infrastructure.
• Building a scalable model that informs a national strategy for semiconductor workforce development.

Texas’s experience demonstrates how state-level coordination, institutional leadership, and regional partnerships can accelerate workforce readiness and resilience—critical components for a sustainable and secure U.S. semiconductor industry.