Silicon Labs Opens New Austin Innovation Center With $23 Million Texas CHIPS Act Grant
Austin’s long-running role in the semiconductor industry is getting another boost, this time inside the downtown headquarters of a company that has called the city home since its earliest days.
Silicon Labs has officially opened a new research and development laboratory at its Austin headquarters, expanding the company’s ability to design, test and validate advanced wireless semiconductor technology. The project was supported in part by a $23 million grant from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, created under the Texas CHIPS Act.
For Central Texas, the investment represents more than additional laboratory space. It places advanced semiconductor research, engineering collaboration and product development in Austin at a time when Texas is directing substantial public investment toward keeping semiconductor design and manufacturing work in the state.
What the New Silicon Labs Austin Innovation Center Will Do
The new Silicon Labs R&D laboratory includes advanced research, testing and validation equipment along with engineering workspace designed for chip development.
According to the Austin-based company, the facility will give engineers additional capacity to develop and test secure, low-power wireless technologies used in the growing Internet of Things, or IoT, market. That includes technology found behind connected home devices, industrial equipment, healthcare applications, commercial systems and smart-city infrastructure.
The expansion also allows Silicon Labs engineers to work with more advanced semiconductor wafer process technology nodes. In practical terms, the upgraded equipment is intended to help the company test new designs more efficiently, shorten product-development cycles and increase collaboration among engineering teams.
Silicon Labs said the facility will support development of its Series 3 wireless platform, which incorporates wireless connectivity, security and artificial intelligence capabilities for connected devices.
“Our new Austin Innovation Center represents an important milestone in the partnership between the State of Texas and Silicon Labs to advance semiconductor innovation and reinforce Texas as the most attractive destination for semiconductor research, design, and development,” Silicon Labs President and CEO Matt Johnson said. “This new space expands our ability to develop the next generation of wireless technologies that will further extend our leadership and the great impact this technology brings to the way we live and work.”
Why the Investment Matters for Austin and Central Texas
Semiconductors may be largely invisible in everyday life, but they sit at the center of everything from smartphones and home automation systems to vehicles, medical equipment, factories and communications networks.
For Austin, keeping the research and engineering behind those technologies close to home helps reinforce a technology ecosystem that has developed over decades.
The new facility is located at Silicon Labs’ headquarters at 400 West Cesar Chavez Street in downtown Austin, overlooking Lady Bird Lake. The company moved into its downtown headquarters in 2006, a decade after Silicon Labs was founded in Austin.
That history makes the latest expansion particularly local. Silicon Labs began in 1996, founded by Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott. What started as an Austin semiconductor company has since grown into a publicly traded technology business with operations in more than 16 countries.
Today, Silicon Labs focuses primarily on low-power wireless connectivity and embedded semiconductor technology. Its chips and software are used by device manufacturers developing smart-home products, industrial Internet of Things systems and smart-city technology.
From Austin Startup to Global Wireless Technology Company
Silicon Labs’ history also tracks closely with Austin’s transformation into one of the country’s best-known technology centers.
The company was founded in a small downtown Austin office in 1996. By 2006, it had grown enough to move into the Cesar Chavez headquarters it still occupies today. Over the years, its semiconductor technology has appeared across consumer electronics, connected-home products, communications systems and other devices.
Its business has increasingly centered on wireless IoT connectivity — the technology that allows devices, sensors and machines to communicate while using relatively little power.
That focus puts Silicon Labs in the middle of several expanding technology categories, from smart thermostats and connected lighting to factory sensors, building automation and municipal infrastructure.
The new Austin laboratory is designed to keep more of the research behind those technologies in Central Texas while giving engineers access to equipment capable of working with newer semiconductor manufacturing processes.
Texas CHIPS Act Funding Helps Support Expansion
The $23 million supporting the Silicon Labs project comes from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, or TSIF, one of the major programs created through the Texas CHIPS Act.
The Texas Legislature established the fund in 2023 through House Bill 5174 to support semiconductor research, design and manufacturing projects in Texas. The legislation also created the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium.
Texas initially appropriated $698 million to the semiconductor fund in 2023 and added another $250 million in 2025, bringing total appropriations to approximately $948 million. Grants can support eligible private companies as well as semiconductor-related projects at state entities and higher education institutions.
The stated purpose of the program is to encourage semiconductor companies to expand within Texas, support research and development, strengthen university expertise and increase the state’s semiconductor manufacturing and design capacity.
For companies such as Silicon Labs, which operates as a semiconductor designer rather than relying solely on large-scale fabrication operations of its own, that strategy also extends the state's semiconductor push beyond factories to the engineering and intellectual property that precede manufacturing.
An Austin Technology Story With Everyday Reach
For residents, semiconductor research can sound distant from daily life. The products that emerge from laboratories like the new Silicon Labs Innovation Center, however, are increasingly woven into ordinary routines.
Wireless semiconductor technology helps connect door locks, thermostats, security sensors, appliances, medical devices, utility systems and industrial machinery. Silicon Labs specializes in the low-power chips and embedded technology that help those devices communicate while balancing energy use, security and performance.
That makes the new facility part of a broader story about Austin’s economy and its place in the technology industry: increasingly sophisticated research is happening in the same city where Silicon Labs began three decades ago.
The ribbon-cutting formally opened the new R&D space on Sept. 4 with Silicon Labs executives, employees and representatives from the State of Texas in attendance.
What Comes Next for Silicon Labs in Austin
With the Innovation Center now open, Silicon Labs engineers are expected to use the facility for ongoing development and validation of future wireless semiconductor products.
The company’s continued investment in Austin comes as Texas simultaneously directs hundreds of millions of dollars toward semiconductor research, design and manufacturing, creating a statewide effort to attract and retain companies working across the chip industry.
For Central Texas, the new laboratory adds another chapter to a technology sector that has helped reshape Austin over several decades — while keeping a homegrown semiconductor company’s next round of research anchored downtown.
Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more updates on Austin-area business openings, major investments, technology development and projects shaping communities across Central Texas.
Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.
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