Nvidia CEO says AI can reindustrialize US, create jobs, reshape society. A North Texas factory could play a role

SHERMAN, Texas - Chipmaking giant Nvidia is betting big on artificial intelligence being the key to reshoring manufacturing in the United States, and its CEO is confident a first-of-its-kind facility in North Texas will play a vital role in that mission.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spoke about this and how building out AI infrastructure has the potential to reshape society during a visit to Coherent's semiconductor manufacturing facility Tuesday in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas.

Huang was joined by Coherent's CEO Jim Anderson and dozens of federal, state and local leaders to celebrate the expansion of the facility, which was touted as the world's first and largest-volume production 6-inch indium phosphide fabrication plant. Coherent makes the lasers, optical components and compound semiconductors that wire AI systems together.

The expansion is set to double the size of the manufacturing production area to 140,000 square feet, and company leaders say the production capacity will quadruple.

The project has accumulated $650 million in investments, including a $50 million federal CHIPS Act grant also announced Tuesday. Nvidia and Coherent announced multiyear partnership in March, which included the former investing $2 billion.

"All these investments are strengthening America's ability to build critical AI infrastructure, expand domestic manufacturing capacity, and create jobs and overall reinforce U.S. technology leadership," Anderson told the crowd during his opening remarks. "I think today marks a really important milestone, not just for Coherent, but for American manufacturing, and for the future of AI infrastructure, I think we're actually at a remarkable moment in both technology and economic history."

He said AI is transforming industries, economies and societies at an unprecedented pace, and will require a build out in infrastructure to support it.

"There is no better place in the entire world to demonstrate this vision than here in Sherman, Texas," Anderson said, met with cheers. "As AI systems grow larger and more powerful, connectivity is just as important as the computing itself."

Anderson brought Huang onto the stage, welcoming him to Sherman.

"This is Silicon Prairie, I understand," Huang said.

"It is, it is," Anderson smiled back. "Now the Photonic Prairie."

Read more: Dallas-Fort Worth is a leading data center market with a 'significant scale issue'

The CEOs chatted for about 20 minutes ahead of a ceremonial groundbreaking with gold shovels in front of cranes hoisting up a massive American flag in the Texas summer heat, which caused Huang to peel off his black leather jacket.

AI is going to revolutionize every single industry, Huang said, adding that it must be done with care and responsibility but also enthusiasm.

"This is the perfect time for United States," Huang said. We are going to reindustrialize the United States in precisely the type of plants that were either unnecessary or not enough in the past."

Huang said AI will create a wide range of new jobs from computer scientists with advanced college degrees to technical jobs for builders and creators.

"Ten years from now, I think we'll look back and realize AI is what made it possible to invest in sustainable energy, upgrade our energy grid and reconstitute a workforce," Huang said. "You can't have only information workers in an economy - you also have to have builders. We have an opportunity over the next 10 years to reshape our communities and be much more balanced."

The expansion at the Sherman facility is expected to create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to Coherent.

"It's a brand new industry and what a great opportunity. It's always better and easier to build a new thing that the world wants rather than go fight for market share of something the world's already had," Huang told The Dallas Morning News after the event. "This is a great opportunity for the United States and we really have got to jump on it so that we don't end up being left behind by this incredible technology revolution that we started."

As Dallas-Fort Worth has become a leading global hub for data centers, the region has also emerged as a semiconductor manufacturing hub fueled by massive financial investments, including Coherent's facility and nearby Dallas-based Texas Instruments' first semiconductor megasite.

The materials being built at these facilities are essential to AI data center operations.

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.

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