OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Osceola County is receiving a huge influx of money from the federal government after it was awarded a grant to help with semiconductor production at the planned NeoCITY development.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration has awarded $50.8 million to the Building Central Florida’s Semiconductor Cluster for Broad-Based Prosperity, a coalition led by the Osceola County Board of County Commissioners, according to the agency’s website.
[TRENDING: When can we expect fall to return to Florida? | Bojangles opens 1st of 15 planned Central Florida locations | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]
“The future of innovation is going to be at NeoCITY, and we are making a huge down payment today,” said Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee.
The money will be used to “accelerate the growth of the specialized semiconductor cluster at NeoCITY, a 5,000-area technology park developed in partnership with the state of Florida,” the site reads.
The grant was awarded as part of the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, which earmarked $1 billion from the America Rescue Plan.
“The Challenge provides transformational investments to develop and strengthen regional industry clusters across the country, all while embracing equitable economic growth, creating good-paying jobs, and enhancing U.S. global competitiveness,” the EDA said.
Soto, in a news conference Friday, likened the NeoCITY project to Lake Nona in Orange County.
“What you see out there is a field of dreams,” Soto said.
In its pitch to the EDA, Osceola County expressed a need to diversify its economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Osceola County’s local economy is primarily reliant on tourism and agriculture and was evidenced by the County’s unemployment rate during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which went up to 31%, the third highest unemployment rate in the entire country during the month of May 2020,” the submission stated.
The EDA said the money will allow semiconductor manufacturing in Osceola County to expand and improve.
“Further funding will create a ‘digital twin’ of the facility at the University of Central Florida, allowing real-time analysis and increasing efficiency of the production process,” according to EDA. “Additional projects will align education and training with needs of semiconductor manufacturers and support the ongoing development of the cluster and coalition at NeoCITY.”
The Biden Administration has taken an increased interest in increasing U.S. production of semiconductors and decreasing reliance on overseas manufacturers. The president recently signed the CHIPS Act into law with the aim of building more semiconductor production facilities in the U.S. All of this comes as amid a microchip shortage brought on by the pandemic.
Read Building Central Florida’s Semiconductor Cluster for Broad-Based Prosperity’s pitch below:
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: