In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee late Wednesday, representatives from Texas requested $50 million in federal defense funds for Austin-based semiconductor consortium International Sematech Inc.
The funds would supplement the $40 million the company received from the Texas Rainy Day fund on March 29.
U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; John Carter, R-Round Rock; and Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, asked a subcommittee on defense to provide support and funding for the Advanced Processing and Prototyping Center, a semiconductor research and development facility located at the Sematech campus in Austin. Funds will be used to advance semiconductor research and manufacturing in Texas.
Sematech spokeswoman Anne Englander said the money was part of the next phase in state and national efforts to bolster the high-tech industry. Plans are in the works to develop a manufacturing plant in Texas, she said.
"If you strengthen and continue to have a strong technology manufacturing effort in Texas and the nation, then you preserve the nation's ability to compete with foreign markets," Englander said.
Marshall Maher, a spokesman for Doggett's office, said the request was in the initial stages, but the U.S. semiconductor industry was falling behind and needed a boost, especially amid national security concerns.
Bob Richter, spokesman for state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said funds committed to technology research and development in Texas was money well spent.
"Yesterday it was cattle, cotton and oil, but the future of the state is based in high-tech," Richter said.
Members of UT Watch, a student watchdog group, were skeptical about how the initiative would benefit the University. They questioned the state's decisions in subsidizing private companies but cutting social programs.
"Comptroller Strayhorn came out with a report in January 2003 that said one dollar invested in research will produce $3.30, but in the same report, it says one dollar pumped into higher education will produce five dollars," said Austin Van Zant, a French senior. "It just makes sense to invest in higher education."
UT Watch members disagreed with the idea that there was a national security need for setting up a national manufacturing facility and say the initiative was commercially motivated.
"I think they're trying to ride the national security wave," said John Pruett, an economics senior.
Bernard Weinstein, director of the Center for Economic Development and Research for the University of North Texas, said many grants these days deal with homeland security and are necessary to develop new technology.
"If we're really engaged in a long-term war, we need to consider strategic products and strategic components," Weinstein said.
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