Pflugerville - Hutto Edition | November 2025

Efforts mount to grow advanced manufacturing workforce From the cover

Portion of workers in hard-to-find occupations nearing retirement

Two-minute impact

Workers 55+ nearing retirement

Machinist

31%

Electrical, electronic and electromechanical assemblers

28.5%

Regional average: 19.7%

With major projects underway in the semiconductor and advanced manufacturing sectors in Central Texas, industry leaders are facing a limited pool of talent to draw from. For roughly a third of high-demand jobs, the region’s supply of workers is at or below the national average, according to the latest Central Texas Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Report. Many workers are also nearing retirement. Large companies, such as Samsung Semiconductor Austin in Taylor, require a large workforce, and the area has seen an influx of third-party businesses open.

Industrial machinery mechanics

27.6%

NOTE: THE DOTTED LINE REPRESENTS THE AVERAGE SHARE OF WORKERS REACHING RETIREMENT AGE, ILLUSTRATING WHICH IN-DEMAND JOBS HAVE AN ABOVE-AVERAGE SHARE OF RETIREMENT-AGE WORKERS.

Maintenance workers, machinery

24.9%

Lathe machine tool operators, metal and plastic

24.3%

SOURCE: WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS RURAL CAPITAL AREA/COMMUNITY IMPACT

Technical College and Austin Community College, public schools like Pflugerville and Hutto ISDs, and other organizations are combining efforts to educate and train the workforce. “The industry needed it yesterday,” said Kelly Coke, provost at TSTC’s Williamson County campus. “That’s our biggest challenge.”

Samsung’s Taylor plant will have about 1,000 employees within the first two quarters of 2026, said Michele Glaze, senior director of communications at Samsung Electronics. For every one job, she said two to three additional jobs are generated. In response, institutions such as Texas State

Projected annual minimum job postings through 2034 The semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries are expected to see an increase in annual job postings across the Central Texas labor shed.

Diving deeper

U.S. headquarters in Pflugerville, bringing its 3D printing and robotics technology to the market. The company manufactures large-scale industrial parts for several industries, including aerospace, energy, automotive, construction and automotive. Caracol hired 10 employees to work out of the Pflugerville facility this year, and Violetta Nespolo, chief marketing and strategy officer, said the company expects to hire more over the next three years. She said the team assembles printing machines, tests them and ships them to custom- ers, which requires engineers as well as workers with experience in 3D printing and robotics. While the company values these “hard skills,” Nespolo said Caracol also looks for candidates with strong communication.

New companies and developments in the area are fueling the demand for advanced manufactur- ing workers. As the new Samsung plant in Taylor is expected to become operational in 2026, companies in sup- port of the semiconductor industry are flocking to the area. Recently, Dutch semiconductor supplier ASML announced plans in October to take up over 32,000 square feet of office space within The Hutto Co-Op District. The company specializes in lithography machines used to mass produce chips. Other companies contributing to the tech boom include semiconductor chemical manufacturing company Soulbrain, Skybox PowerCampus Austin in Hutto, and Titan Mega TechCenter in Hutto. In September, Italian-based Caracol opened its

Industrial engineers: 591

Software developers: 331

Mechanical engineers: 278

Computer occupations, all other: 244

Industrial engineering technicians: 167

Electronics engineers, except computer: 161

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