Federal and state dollars have spurred a growing number of businesses in the industry, with new and existing businesses in the Round Rock community investing in expansions and new locations to support the future chip fabrication facility.
To support the new facility, Dave Porter, executive director of the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership said, about 150 component suppliers will need to locate within an hour of the 1,200-acre site.
In recent years, five businesses have opened an office or expanded facilities in the city.
Most recently, a South Korean company with a long history in the Round Rock community won a $2 million grant from the state to support its expansion.
Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan said the city has long served as a home for the technology sector.
Even before Dell Technologies brought the city to the global stage when it located its headquarters there in 1994, Tekscend Photomask—formerly Toppan Photomask—opened its manufacturing operations in Round Rock in 1986.
Zooming in
KoMiCo, whose employees clean equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing, entered into an agreement with the city of Round Rock in 2022 for a $30 million facility expansion.
In exchange for adding 70 employees to the company’s payroll, 40,000 square feet and $30 million in improvements to the property, the company received $750,000 in incentive payments funded by sales tax.
This project allowed KoMiCo to secure a $2 million Texas Semiconductor Fund Grant in March 2025, said Porter.
This is just one example of investment in the industry, as other businesses have received similar opportunities to grow in anticipation of supporting the future Samsung facility.
Local incentives
In recent years, the city of Round Rock has executed economic development agreements with the following semiconductor businesses in the area to expand their facilities and increase staffing:
KoMiCo
- Requirements: expand facility by 40,000 square feet, add 70 new jobs, make $30 million in real and business personal property improvements
- Incentives: $750,000
- Requirements: $185.49 million expansion and purchases of business personal property for existing facility, add 50 new jobs
- Incentives: $1.25 million
- Requirements: 75 new jobs, $12 million in facilities expansions, business personal property
- Incentives: $225,000
Officials have leveraged economic development agreements and the city’s business-friendly reputation to bring high-skilled and high-paying jobs to the area, Morgan said. He said he likes to see businesses offer health insurance to their employees, capital investment in facilities and other benefits to the community.
“When someone approaches [City Council] to start a negotiation, we look at the factors that we want to see,” Morgan said. “We want to see high wages so that if [employees] choose to work here, they can live here.”
Capital investment by businesses benefits residents, he said, because about 7% of the city’s taxable property is commercial. That 7% generates about 46% of the city’s overall property tax revenue, reducing the property tax burden on homeowners.
“If we didn’t have that 7%, our citizens would pay higher taxes,” Morgan said.
Education institutions have also begun planning for the growing industry, creating programs to grow a pool of skilled workers.
Round Rock Chamber President Jordan Robinson said the region has a strong pipeline in secondary education—largely because the semiconductor industry has already existed in the area for decades. Samsung’s investment has amplified it, she said, with federal and state dollars backing expansions to higher education programs.
One of these programs is at Austin Community College, where students can pursue multiple levels of education in the manufacturing industry.
Even a certification can go far in the industry, said ACC student Carlos Rodriguez, who will graduate with a bachelor’s in engineering this May.
“Having a certificate, you already have a lot of jobs open, a lot of opportunities available to you,” Rodriguez said. “A certificate will benefit a student’s life in many ways.”
Other regional higher education institutions and workforce training programs have worked in recent years to meet future job demands. These include Texas State Technical College, which offers a variety of manufacturing programs, and Texas State University’s Round Rock Campus, which partners with Round Rock ISD to offer a dual-credit pathway in precision manufacturing.
Going forward
ACC is creating a clean room at its Round Rock campus similar to those in a manufacturing environment. Laura Marmolejo, advanced manufacturing dean, said it will be available to students by the end of 2026. Around that time Porter said the Samsung facility is expected to become operational.
When the Samsung facility opens, Morgan said it will represent a new chapter in Round Rock’s story of economic growth.
“We’ve been so fortunate that the companies that have come here and the bigger name ones that you think of—Dell, Emerson, all our hospitals, Kalahari—they’re all great partners and they all give back to the community,” Morgan said.
