SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTION POWERS ECONOMIES
an economic district that city offi- cials are working to make a “premier tech hub in Texas.” In 2022, semiconductor businesses in Richardson generated $1.44 billion in gross regional product, which is a measure of the value of goods pro- duced regionally, equal to 11.4% of the entire state’s output, according to the Dallas Regional Chamber. As a whole, the Dallas-Fort Worth area contrib- uted $6.33 billion in gross regional product and added 14,010 tech jobs in 2022, according to data from non- profit trade association The Comput- ing Technology Industry Association. That same year, TI expanded its manufacturing facility in Richard- son without federal funding with the addition of a second 300-millimeter wafer fabrication plant. According to TI officials, the new plant will sup- port approximately 800 new jobs over time and manufacture more than 100 million chips every day at full production. The ubiquity of semiconductor technology has helped position Richardson as a hub for innovation in other industries, Voelker said. “It is the foundation of the tech- nology that is Richardson,” he said. “The telecommunications industry was built off of the prowess of our semiconductor technology and the workforce that was here.” Business-friendly community According to City Manager Don Magner, maintaining that busi- ness-friendly balance is necessary to allow the city to offer a variety of special programs and events, includ- ing the Wildflower! Arts & Music Fes- tival, while keeping the tax burden as low as possible on residents. “We have to have a strong business ecosystem in order to keep our resi- dential property tax as low as it is,” Magner said. “Having a diverse set of technology businesses operating and locating here will ensure our success in the future, and it also makes us much more resilient as an economy.” In Richardson, 60% of property tax revenue is collected from commer- cial businesses with the remaining 40% obtained from homeowners. The city’s residential property tax reached its lowest point since 2006 during fiscal year 2022-23 alongside an increase in home values, accord- ing to city officials. To recruit and retain companies, Richardson has positioned itself as an ally to tech businesses by its proximity to UT Dallas and offering
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U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, has met with several local businesses that create semiconductor chips to gauge the region’s need for federal funding. “We want to be self-sufficient in terms of creating our chips and make sure the next-generation chips are made properly,” he said during a visit. “We need to scale up and make sure that we can expand the use of the [technology] that’s going to have huge implications for our economy and for national security.” One local company eyeing the fed- eral funding is Photodigm, which develops speciality chips used in a variety of biomedical, sensing, envi- ronmental and defense technologies. The company was founded in 2000 as a spinoff of research at Southern Meth- odist University. CEO Bill Stuart said utilizing federal funding would allow smaller companies like his to better compete with larger companies. He wants to expand operations at Pho- todigm’s headquarters by building a high-scale semiconductor fabrication facility, acquiring specialty equipment and hiring more employees. “Even though we’ve been around a long time, there has been a limita- tion for us to really go out and make a name for the technology ... because we are limited by capital,” Stuart said. Importance of semiconductors Since the invention of the transis- tor in the 1940s, the semiconductor industry has become a key compo- nent of daily life in the digital age, according to Voelker. Semiconductor chips are both a crucial component of the technol- ogy industry and already utilized by most Richardson residents, accord- ing to Texas Instruments officials. “Nearly every device that plugs into a wall or contains a battery has a TI semiconductor in it,” TI spokes- person Ellen Fishpaw said via email. “Our approximately 80,000 prod- ucts help over 100,000 customers.” After opening operations near Richardson in 1956, TI’s demand for tech-related jobs in Richardson has contributed to a high volume of employment and a skilled workforce in the city. That led to the creation of what became The University of Texas at Dallas, which grew out of a private TI research arm, according to city officials. The university later became instrumental in helping with the development of what became The Richardson Innovation Quarter,
Richardson accounts for nearly 25% of all semiconductor gross regional product, or GRP, in North Texas, which itself accounts for over 50% of all state production. GRP measures the market value of goods and services produced in a region.
The city of Richardson has contributed greatly to North Texas’ semiconductor industry, generating 22.75% of the GRP for the region in the semiconductor industry. Major semiconductor manufacturers in the city include Texas Instruments and Qorvo.
$1.44B RICHARDSON
$6.33B NORTH TEXAS
Compared to the state’s other metro areas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area accounts for 50.12% of the value of goods produced in the semiconductor industry in Texas at $6.33 billion.
Among the 50 states, Texas accounted for $12.63 billion in GRP in the semiconductor industry, which is equivalent to 12.17% of the nation’s entire output.
$12.63B TEXAS
SOURCE: DALLAS REGIONAL CHAMBER/COMMUNITY IMPACT
TECH EMPLOYMENT IN DFW REGION Over the last five years, the technology industry in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has experienced steady growth with employment expected to reach nearly 350,000 workers in 2023. Number of employees “ALL OF THESE INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES ... CAME TO THE RICHARDSON AREA BECAUSE WE WERE A TECHNOLOGY-BASED CITY. AND THAT ALL STARTED WITH SEMICONDUCTORS.” PAUL VOELKER, RICHARDSON MAYOR
24.75% increase since 2017
350,000 300,000 400,000 200,000 250,000
0
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022 2023*
*PROJECTED INCREASE IN EMPLOYMENT SOURCE: COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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