Augmenting its footprint in the growing local semiconductor industry, Austin Community College is expanding its advanced manufacturing programs after the school’s board of trustees recently accepted a $200,000 gift from Samsung Austin Semiconductors to purchase equipment to help build a training facility at the college’s campus in Round Rock.
The money will allow ACC to buy specialized training equipment, providing its Round Rock campus the same experiential learning apparatus that’s used at its Highland Campus, which houses the college’s nationally recognized Semiconductor Technician Advanced Rapid Start, or STARS, program.
The STARS program allows students to become certified technicians, and it helps current manufacturing employees to upskill quickly. With the new equipment, the college will offer this program in Round Rock, a campus that’s closer to Taylor, where Samsung is expanding its semiconductor plant with a $6.4 billion federal investment from the federal CHIPS and Science Act.
At the end of 2025, the new advanced manufacturing classroom, specialized equipment and lab are expected to move into a yet-to-be-constructed building at the Round Rock campus where it will house ACC’s semiconductor manufacturing center of excellence. College board members on Monday, when they formally accepted the gift, also voted to name the advance manufacturing classroom the “Samsung Austin Semiconductor Advanced Manufacturing Lab.”
Samsung’s investment in Taylor will add thousands of new positions to its existing workforce of 10,000 employees in the Austin area, according to the agenda item in the ACC booklet. Samsung Austin Semiconductors said the college is its leading training provider, and its investment in ACC’s programs will help expand its workforce.
“Our partnership with ACC is designed to continue to inspire and motivate others to join in our exciting field,” Jon Taylor, Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s corporate vice president of fab engineering and public affairs, said in his remarks to the board Monday.
A high-level manufacturing employee can make around $160,000 in Central Texas, according to the Austin Regional Manufacturing Association. Industry leaders in Central Texas have partnered with ACC on curriculum, internship opportunities and program development, and students often get connected to jobs before they graduate, said Laura Marmolejo, ACC’s dean of advanced manufacturing.
The connection also allows the curriculum to stay innovative and closely connected to employers’ needs, Marmolejo added. The new equipment will allow ACC to expand its offerings and reach more people, connecting them to a career as quickly as two months.
“Our training gets you into the company, and the career path is strong, whether it’s by working your way up or education,” Marmolejo said. “There’s always innovation going on. There’s always challenges. Anybody really can find longevity with this industry if they are interested.”
Marmolejo said ACC is in talks with the Georgetown school district about manufacturing, in hopes of setting up the Round Rock campus to be “another hub” for advanced manufacturing education, as is the Highland campus.
“I always say we have the people here, we just need to get them trained,” Marmolejo said. “Nobody knows there’s a diamond in the rough here of great jobs and long-term job opportunity.”
This is the college’s second recent investment in new equipment necessary to provide hands-on automation experience after U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett helped secure $1.5 million in federal appropriations to purchase the specialized machinery for the Highland Campus, according to an announcement by the Austin congressman and the college late last month.
ACC’s existing lab, NXP Advanced Manufacturing Lab at the Highland campus, was also funded with a gift.
ACC, a longtime partner of Samsung Austin Semiconductor, has been instrumental in helping build the semiconductor industry in Central Texas, Samsung spokesperson Michele Glaze said in an interview after the decision.
“We’re very appreciative of the wealth of innovation that ACC has been bringing to our community,” Glaze said. “It’s a win for ACC, it’s a win for our companies, and then it’s a win for the student.”
The industry’s growth in the Austin area is expanding opportunities for residents to get involved in a career that can span manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence and more, Glaze said.
“We have dozens of companies that are coming to Central Texas to be part of this semiconductor ecosystem. They’re going to need talent,” Glaze said. “When an investment is made in a company like Samsung, we hire from within the community.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ACC Round Rock to open advanced manufacturing ‘hub’ after Samsung gift
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