ATX-PFH: Impact 11/10/2025

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.

Two-minute impact: 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.

Samsung’s Taylor plant will have about 1,000 employees within the first two quarters of 2026, Michele Glaze, senior director of communications at Samsung Electronics, said at a Hutto Chamber of Commerce luncheon in October. For every one job, she said two to three additional jobs are generated.

In response, institutions such as Texas State 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.

Hutto City Council advanced plans Nov. 6 for the proposed Stromberg development, a roughly 389-acre mixed-use planned unit development near CR 132 and FM 1660.

Council approved an amendment to the zoning plan clearing the way for a residential focused neighborhood and setting a public hearing on a related financing district.

What’s happening: City leaders selected a residential-focused plan that devotes 90% of the site to housing and 10% to retail and services. Two scenarios were presented for the mixed-use project, each outlining different mixes of housing and commercial space.

Council members voted 5-2 with council members Evan Porterfield and Aaron King in opposition.

Planning manager John Byron said the project—previously approved in 2024 as a 50-50 mix of residential and industrial uses—was revised to a 90-10 layout that emphasized housing while keeping space for small-scale retail and community amenities.

The University of Texas at Austin opened a 10,000-square-foot laboratory facility in North Austin, UT Innovation Labs, to support emerging health care and life sciences companies.

The gist: The wet lab space for UT researchers and private sector tenants was first announced in 2023 and is now launching under UT's Discovery to Impact startup program. The new labs are meant to serve as an accelerator in the life science space as the sector goes through "expansive growth" in Central Texas, according to UT.

The campus at 12829 Parmer Ridge Drive, Austin, is one of several new Central Texas developments with lab space for life science tenants. It joins similar institutional facilities such as Austin Community College's Bioscience Incubator and planned Texas State University life science incubator in Round Rock.

Check out the top trending Community Impact stories in the Austin metro from Nov. 3-7.

1. New high-rise height limit now in effect for downtown Austin

2. Austinites reject Proposition Q tax hike

3. New Indian grocery store in the works in Pflugerville

4. Lucky Claw Mania now open in Pflugerville

5. Austin ISD to hold off on 3 school closures, delay boundary changes

6. Pflugerville mayoral race heads to runoff; Coffman wins open council seat

Airports in Dallas and Houston are required to begin reducing flights and other operations by 4% on Nov. 7 in response to air traffic controller shortages caused by the federal government shutdown, transportation officials announced Nov. 6.

The details: The cuts will affect 40 "high impact airports" across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. The affected Texas airports include:

• Dallas Love Field (DAL)
• Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
• William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)