Samsung Austin Semiconductor is putting nearly $23 million into community and workforce development across Taylor and Central Texas as the company gears up to start work on a second chip-making facility in the small Central Texas city. The announcement, made Thursday, pairs a major expansion of the company's local footprint with a bet on homegrown talent to staff it.
The investment totals $22.84 million for 2026 across Taylor and Central Texas, according to the Taylor Press, and arrives as Samsung prepares to break ground on a second fabrication facility in Taylor that will span the equivalent of nine football fields and is expected to be completed by 2030, according to the Austin Business Journal. Samsung Austin Semiconductor also framed the funding as part of a broader push to invest in Taylor and across Central Texas to benefit education and nonprofits, as reported by KVUE.
Spark! Program Spreads $10 Million Across 14 Nonprofits
At the center of the announcement is Spark!, a new Samsung program providing $10 million to 14 nonprofit organizations in Taylor and Manor, the station's report notes. Taylor ISD itself will receive $2.45 million through Spark!, while the Central Texas Food Bank is among the groups named as recipients, per KVUE.
Mark Jackson, the food bank's chief development officer, told KVUE that Samsung's investment enables new programs, partnerships and reaching people where they are. Taylor ISD leaders separately said the funding could have a generational impact on the community, according to the station.
New Skilled Trades Pathway Targets Fab Jobs
Samsung also announced a $1.5 million investment in a new skilled trades training program with Taylor ISD, according to the Taylor Press. The Skilled Trades Employment Pathway is designed to prepare students for careers in electrical work, welding, pipefitting and HVAC systems, the outlet reports, aiming to get students ready for high-paying careers straight out of graduation.
Taylor ISD Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen told KVUE that students should have priority access to electrical and HVAC jobs at Samsung's fabs. The program builds on earlier district upgrades: Taylor ISD held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in June 2025 to mark the completion of career-and-technical-education improvements funded in part by a bond and Samsung's earlier $1 million donation, according to Community Impact. That original $1 million gift, announced in 2023, helped underwrite equipment, staff and training for Taylor High School's CTE programs, according to a Samsung Semiconductor announcement.
Internships Grow as Alumni Point to Real Opportunities
Samsung plans to expand its Taylor ISD internship program to 30 students starting next summer, up from prior years, according to KVUE. Jett VanBrocklin, a Taylor ISD alumnus and current University of Texas at Austin senior who interned with Samsung, said the company's community investment gives students real opportunities and understanding to realize their dreams, per the station.
Samsung also announced a three-year extension of its 5-star workforce development partnerships with UT Austin and Texas A&M University, each totaling $1 million per year, KVUE reports. A separate three-year extension will send $660,000 in workforce development funding to Austin Community College, SkillPoint Alliance and Texas State Technical College, according to the station. The Taylor Press separately reported that Samsung's combined workforce partnerships, including those with UT Austin and Texas A&M, will receive $2.66 million annually.
A Region Racing to Train Enough Workers
The investment lands against a backdrop of explosive growth in Central Texas semiconductor manufacturing. The region is becoming a nationally recognized hub for the industry, with Samsung joined by NXP Semiconductor, Applied Materials, AMD and Tokyo Electron, all of which have a significant presence locally and more investment expected over the next decade, according to a TIP Strategies workforce report.
That growth is also squeezing the labor pool. TIP Strategies found the sector's expansion is expected to increase demand for workers while further constraining the supply of skilled technicians and related occupations, with employer roundtables flagging CNC tool machinists, welders, equipment maintenance technicians and assemblers as especially hard to hire. Nationally, an estimated 115,000 new semiconductor jobs are expected by 2030, and as many as 67,000 of those could go unfilled because of an undersized workforce and a lack of training programs, according to UT News.
Other regional efforts are already underway to close that gap. UT Austin, the Austin Community College District and the Texas Institute for Electronics are partnering to launch a Semiconductor Training Center, with TIE committing an initial $3.75 million to get it off the ground, per UT News. In nearby Hutto, Texas State Technical College has a 10-week technician course.
