SMU-Led Texoma Semiconductor Hub Lands Nearly $29 Million

The Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub, led by Southern Methodist University, has secured nearly $29 million to build chip infrastructure, train workers and commercialize semiconductor technology across 29 North Texas and southern Oklahoma counties. The package includes almost $24 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce, with $4.8 million more from other sources.

The Texoma hub is one of 31 tech hubs the Commerce Department established in 2023, and one of just four federally backed hubs focused on semiconductors. Since its founding, the coalition behind it has more than doubled, growing from 41 to 95 organizations, according to SMU.

"Semiconductors are the brains behind the 21st-century devices we all depend on," the hub says on its website. "The Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub is dedicated to building jobs and a skilled workforce across Texas and Oklahoma to reduce our dependence on importing these crucial components."

Where does the money go?

SMU has laid out a precise split of the $24 million federal portion:

• $13 million for shared semiconductor infrastructure, including special prototyping facilities called "fablets"
• $6 million for workforce education and training
• $5 million to help entrepreneurs and businesses bring chip technology to market

The fablets are the structural heart of the plan. They're smaller, cheaper alternatives to full-scale fabs — the plants where raw silicon wafers become integrated circuits — and they'll give researchers, entrepreneurs and businesses access to equipment for design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. For startups priced out of fab access, that shared capacity can decide whether a prototype ever reaches commercial production.

The initiative also aims to move semiconductor startups from prototype to production through better access to funding, industry networks, intellectual property and shared resources, SMU said.

J.C. Chiao, an SMU professor of electrical and computer engineering who helped form the hub alongside Lyle School of Engineering professors Jennifer Dworak and Scott Douglas, said the combined $24 million federal and $4.8 million external funding "will help address some of the critical needs facing the semiconductor industry as it expands in North Texas and southern Oklahoma." He added that the hub "will make the region more competitive in attracting semiconductor investment while strengthening the domestic supply chain."

Who's in the coalition?

The hub's partners include heavyweights of silicon manufacturing. Dallas-based Texas Instruments — the company that gave birth to the integrated circuit in 1958 — operates large plants in the Sherman area and also makes semiconductors in Richardson. GlobiTech, a subsidiary of Taiwan's GlobalWafers, and Pennsylvania-based Coherent both run large semiconductor plants in Sherman as well.

That existing manufacturing base gives the region a head start most tech hubs lack. The money now aims to thicken the surrounding ecosystem: shared prototyping, a deeper labor pool and a startup pathway to volume production.

How will the hub close workforce gaps?

Suku Nair, vice provost for research and chief innovation officer at SMU, said the hub envisions North Texas and southern Oklahoma as a top-notch center for semiconductor innovation and manufacturing. The talent pipeline will run through workforce training and upskilling programs built on AI and digital twin technology, SMU said.

"As the region continues to attract new investments from across the country and around the world, we must proactively address workforce gaps and strengthen our talent pipeline to meet both current and future industry needs," Nair told Dallas Innovates.

What does this mean for SMU?

The award caps a strong funding run for the university. In September, the U.S. Department of Energy committed $19.3 million to SMU's critical mineral mining project — the largest research funding for an individual researcher in the school's history. Semiconductor production relies on critical minerals, linking the two programs directly.

SMU President Jay Hartzell said in a statement that the federal investment "is a powerful example of what SMU can accomplish by bringing together research, industry and regional partners to address challenges of national importance."

"Through the Texoma Tech Hub, we have an opportunity to translate innovation into economic growth, attract and develop the next generation of talent and strengthen a critical U.S. industry," Hartzell said.

With 95 member organizations, four major plants already running in the Sherman-Richardson corridor and $29 million now committed, the hub's next test is whether its fablets and training programs can convert regional manufacturing heft into new chip ventures — before competing hubs elsewhere claim the same investment.