Global technology company Arm Inc. was awarded a $4.16 million state grant to support the $71 million expansion of its Austin campus including a new chips lab, Gov. Greg Abbott announced in February.
“Texas is where the world innovates,” Abbott said in a statement. “This $71 million expansion of Arm's engineering and innovation hub in Austin will create hundreds of skilled jobs and enhance Texas’ leadership in semiconductor design and manufacturing. Partnering with industry leaders, Texas is investing in the tech advances of tomorrow—today.”
The overview
The award to United Kingdom-based Arm is the latest through the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, or TSIF, the grant program established under the Texas CHIPS Act of 2023.
The expansion project including the semiconductor lab at Arm's Texas office, located at 5707 Southwest Parkway, Bldg. 1, Ste. 100, Austin, is expected to create more than 320 jobs. The facility is central to the design of advanced processors for mobile, cloud and data center uses, Abbott's office said.
“Austin is home to Arm’s largest U.S. site and is a rapidly growing center for advanced chip design,” CEO Rene Haas said in a statement. “This investment from the Governor’s Office accelerates that momentum and strengthens Texas’ position as a global semiconductor leader. We’re expanding our labs, strengthening our capabilities, and creating hundreds of new roles—building the future of compute and AI in the U.S. and developing the next generation of semiconductor talent.”
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and state Rep. Donna Howard, both Austin Democrats, also hailed the latest investment in the regional technology and semiconductor industries.
“Companies like Arm Inc. don’t make big investments in Texas just because they like the weather or get hooked on the barbecue. They come because we attract talent here that you simply can’t find anywhere else in the world," Eckhardt said. "Arm’s latest investment expands an essential workforce in our state and brings new neighbors who add to the vibrancy of Central Texas, so important to our ongoing prosperity.”
Other projects
The new state grant is one of nearly two dozen awards announced through the TSIF program since late 2024.
To date, Texas has committed nearly $400 million to semiconductor-related initiatives statewide under the CHIPS program, with a majority of the projects and financing concentrated around Central Texas. Total capital investments supported by the TSIF are now estimated at more than $6 billion and projects backed by the grant program are expected to bring hundreds of new jobs and training opportunities to Texas.
Other recent awardees in town include LTD Material and The University of Texas at Austin. Throughout the region, grants have been announced for institutions like Texas State Technical College in Hutto and Austin Community College in Round Rock, and for private companies like Samsung in Taylor and SpaceX in Bastrop.
The largest TSIF grant committed so far went to Samsung, which received $250 million for a nearly $5 billion fabrication plant that's part of the company's tens of billions of dollars in total investment in the region. Samsung's Taylor project also received billions in federal semiconductor funding.
