CHESS is the first initiative of UT Dallas’ new North Texas Semiconductor Institute (NTxSI), which aims to accelerate semiconductor innovation, entrepreneurship and workforce development in North Texas. “Harsh-environment electronics research has become key in industry and national security, and the demand for expertise in this area is growing. In North Texas, Texas Instruments (TI), Coherent and Globitech Inc. are constructing new semiconductor manufacturing plants in Sherman. As the local semiconductor manufacturing industry grows, institute officials estimate that the new manufacturing facilities will create over 17,000 semiconductor manufacturing, technology development and management jobs over the next few years. The institute hosted a one-day Workshop for North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development on Dec. 7 to meet with leaders of local semiconductor companies to discuss workforce needs.