The mysterious potential high-tech manufacturing facility that would be at Texas A&M University’s RELLIS campus in Bryan valued at $10 billion is a semiconductor plant, according to filings from the project owner America’s Foundry Bryan, LLC to the Office of Texas Comptroller of Accounts first obtained by the Austin Business Journal.
An economic impact analysis report shows the total capital investment for the project is over $108 billion across the next 40 years.
The project has received the greenlight from A&M’s Board of Regents and received approval for a lucrative tax abatement agreement from both the Brazos County Commissioners Court and the Bryan City Council. Local leaders with knowledge of the project are all under non-disclosure agreements regarding the project’s details and have been vague with answers about what the project would entail.
People are also reading…
A Form AP-243 from America’s Foundry Bryan, LLC shows the project is called Project One Factory. Construction is slated to begin in late 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2028. Operations are expected to begin in 2030, which is the first year of the incentive period that runs through 2039.
The project includes a 3 million square-foot advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility that features administrative buildings, central utilities buildings and infrastructure, a machine shop, receiving and warehousing facilities, and site and roadway infrastructure.
Along with tax abatements from Brazos County and the city of Bryan, America’s Foundry Bryan, LLC also has filed for unknown amounts from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund (TSIF), the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF), the Texas Enterprise Zone Project Designation, the Texas Skills Development Fund, and the United States CHIPS Incentive Program (CHIPS).
The project would be located on a 288-acre parcel on the RELLIS campus that was created as a reinvestment zone last month by the city council to allow for property tax breaks. The land is currently undeveloped and has no buildings on it. Bryan city staff said the purpose of the designation was to attract a significant economic development project with the A&M System.
The abatement percentage will be 80% for the first five years, dropping to 50% for the remaining five. The guaranteed value of the tax abatement begins at $100 million and increases to $10 billion by year 7. According to the agreement, the facility also will create an estimated 1,800 jobs by year 10.
A&M Chancellor John Sharp said Tuesday that the project has the potential to double the city of Bryan’s taxable income. Bryan city staff said the Brazos Central Appraisal District’s current 2024 estimate of net taxable value for the city to be certified on or before July 25 is just north of $9.9 billion.
America’s Foundry Bryan, LLC’s parent company, Substrate Inc., a startup company headquartered in San Francisco, engaged in a multi-state site selection process for its initial semiconductor manufacturing facility. The company currently does not have a business presence in Texas.
At the start of the company’s site selection process, 12 states offered specific incentives for semiconductor manufacturing. In 2023, the company received a report on six states — Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Utah — and later added New York to the search. The company later narrowed its search to Texas, Oregon and New York.
An economic impact analysis covers a 41-year period, starting with the six-year construction phase, the 10-year incentive period, and an additional 25 years through 2064. The report shows tax revenues during the construction period are more than $463 million for the state of Texas, over $46 million for the city of Bryan, and north of $15 million for Brazos County.
Sharp credited multiple people for their work on the project during his comments to Bryan City Council on Tuesday. He noted that David Staack, who has served as interim director of A&M’s Semiconductor Institute, has taken over the project. Sharp said Susan Davenport, president and CEO of the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation, “is an absolute wizard.”
Both Davenport and Staack joined Sharp at the commissioners court and city council meetings Tuesday. Sharp also said Bryan Mayor Bobby Guiterrez has become the “best friend” of the CEO of this possible operation. Davenport and Gutierrez were part of a delegation of local leaders on a BVEDC-sponsored trip to Japan in June to discuss possible international business opportunities.
