Austin gets billions in technology, transportation, clean energy funding from the feds

The message Wednesday to local developers and real estate professionals was clear: Austin is a mixture of tens of billions of dollars in federal money that will transform the area and attract newcomers for decades.

Representatives from the Urban Land Institute identified three main sources of federal funding for Austin in Central Texas: From the $39 billion semiconductor stimulus included in the US Chips and Science Act, the federal money will go to Austin to help. $25 billion in funding for planned transportation infrastructure projects and various clean energy and health care tax credits from the Affordable Care Act.

Much of the panelist talk on Wednesday centered around CHIPS Act money, which is drawing competition from projects in New York, Ohio and Arizona. That money is earmarked to encourage the construction of new semiconductor manufacturing plants or to revitalize existing facilities.

Austin’s history as a player in the microchip market and Samsung’s recent multibillion-dollar investment here have local business leaders hoping some or all of the Chips Act funding could lead to it.

We are sitting on one of the biggest opportunities we have ever seen as a region. Or our parents for that matter,” said Laura Huffman, former head of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and founder of CivicSol. “We have federal investment to solve long-standing problems and create opportunities in Austin. So to me, the CHIPS Act couldn’t be more important to our economy because we rely on advanced manufacturing. We’ve built our economic reputation not just nationally, but internationally in this sector.”

John Schreck, CEO of the Texas Electronics Institute, said promising progress is being made in real estate deals involving the former Semitech as the semiconductor economy continues to have a significant impact on the local business ecosystem. The facility on Montopolis Drive.

And while federal leaders have indicated they want 30 percent of CHIPS money to be spent on local workforce development, they say the impact on job creation will be significant.

“What this ends up doing is allowing more small and medium-sized companies to compete with larger companies and create real opportunities for innovation, because you can mix and match these parts and create new ways of doing things. That’s what we’re focused on,” he said. “In terms of the funding opportunity, NAPMP There’s a piece of the CHIPS Act called National Advanced Packaging, about $5 billion associated with that fund, and we’re putting together what we think is a compelling program to drive growth and innovation. The advancements we plan to make.”

At the state level, lawmakers are working on legislation to provide more incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, as well as reforms to higher education funding to help potential workers get the necessary training for new jobs.

Travis Krogman, vice president of state and federal relations for the Austin Chamber of Commerce, said early access to additional semiconductor funding for Austin from Washington, D.C., has led to increased economic activity in communities around Austin, such as Lockhart. The company is in the running for a $100 billion investment from Micron Technology before choosing New York as its location.

“Texas lost out to Micron Investments and went to New York by Lockhart, so Texas was second, but even before the $1 Chips Act funding came out of the Commerce Department, we saw unprecedented amounts. Private investment in the United States broadly,” he said. “It can’t be overstated how important it is for Congress to pass big bipartisan bills like the CHIPS Act because it shows the private sector that they can invest in this. It’s going to happen. But even before the bill was signed into law, we saw big investments across the country, and Obviously that’s what we need here in Central Texas.

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