Samsung Puts $22.84 Million Into Texas Talent, Not Just Chips

Samsung is spending $22.84 million this year on workforce development in Central Texas, betting that a semiconductor fab succeeds only if the community around it can staff and supply it. The money backs a new community engagement program, a "5-Star Workforce Development" partnership plan, an industrial trades training program, and an expanded paid internship program with Taylor Independent School District.

The investment sits alongside something much larger. Samsung is preparing to open an advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas — its single largest investment ever in the United States. Paul Cho, President and Head of Device Solutions Americas at Samsung Electronics, frames the stakes plainly: "putting up capital is not the same as putting down roots."

What does $100 billion actually buy?

The numbers behind Samsung's U.S. footprint are substantial. Over nearly five decades, the company has invested more than $100 billion in the United States. Its Texas total alone is expected to reach roughly $40 billion by the end of this year. Samsung has manufactured semiconductors in Central Texas for more than 30 years.

The economic ripple is measurable. Samsung says its U.S. operations — anchored by semiconductor operations in Central Texas and Silicon Valley — generate more than $40 billion in economic impact for local economies and support more than 175,000 jobs. In 2025 alone, the Austin and Taylor campuses contributed $10.9 billion to the Central Texas economy.

Supply chain partners are following. Cho notes that many of them "are following suit by relocating or expanding their existing presence in the area." That's the difference between a plant and an ecosystem.

Why can't a fab stand alone?

Here's the practical question for anyone watching chip-industry site selection: what does a factory need that capital can't buy quickly? Cho's answer is time. "A semiconductor fab can be built in a few years, but becoming part of a local economy takes much longer," he writes. It requires skilled workers, suppliers positioned to grow, and schools that prepare people for the jobs arriving on their doorstep.

Samsung is deepening partnerships with The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, local community colleges, and Central Texas high schools. These support scholarships, fellowships, curriculum development, training programs, and educational resources.

In Silicon Valley, where Samsung's semiconductor headquarters has been based since 1983, the company reaches more than 50,000 students and 800 educators locally each year. One fellowship embeds a teacher with Samsung's R&D engineers to build classroom-ready STEM lessons. That's roughly one educator for every 60-plus students reached annually — a deliberate bet on the multiplier effect of training trainers.

What does this change for the talent pipeline?

The core argument: companies can't wait for a vacancy to start building capacity. "Companies cannot not wait until a position needs to be filled to invest in that capacity," Cho writes. As manufacturing and technology skills shift, workers need accessible pathways into new careers, and students need early exposure to problem-solving.

Samsung's flagship national effort, Solve for Tomorrow, illustrates the scale of that approach. Since 2010, more than 620,000 students have participated, and Samsung has provided technology and classroom resources to more than 4,300 schools nationwide. The program's through-line, per Cho: "What is a problem in my community, and how can I help solve it?"

The company's experience extends beyond chips — from home appliance manufacturing in Newberry, South Carolina, to STEM programs — and it has drawn the same conclusion everywhere: long-term value depends on equipping local talent to innovate.

The so-what for executives

As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary, Cho argues communities receiving new investments should ask what remains "after the announcement is made and the ribbon is cut." His standard for durable investment: people with new skills, stronger pathways into emerging industries, suppliers prepared to grow, and institutions equipped for what comes next.

For practitioners weighing site selection or incentive negotiations, the message is direct. Capital builds the factory; capability keeps it running. The strongest global companies, Cho writes, measure success "not only by what an investment produces today, but by what workers, institutions, and communities are equipped to do tomorrow."