At Cirent Semiconductor, the successor to AT&T Microelectronics in Orlando, the expansion has meant 600 new jobs, up to 1,600 from 1,000. The company also employs 400 to 500 contract workers, and it recently announced 100 new additional jobs this year.
Now, with the AT&T/Cirent venture a success, USF and UCF have embarked on a full-blown campaign to help businesses grow more high-tech, high-wage jobs in central Florida. To that end, USF, UCF, 20 major technology companies and economic development groups in July 1996 formed the Florida I-4 High-Tech Corridor Council, named after the interstate highway running from Tampa to Daytona Beach.
Now 18 months old, the I-4 Council is ready to take on the world, competing with every major technology center to lure the biggest high-tech prize of all -- a semiconductor manufacturing plant. Can Florida, which has never been known as a center for cutting-edge businesses, really break into the first tier of technology hubs that vie for semiconductor plants? Can USF and UCF generate the same caliber of technology research that flows from California's Stanford University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the academic engines that power Silicon Valley and high-tech firms along Massachusetts' Route 128?
The I-4 Council's goal is to create a nurturing environment for high-tech businesses along central Florida's busy interstate by bolstering university research and transferring the technology to private industry. "Businesses need to be close to universities that they draw on for high-tech skilled workers." says Peter Daks, president of GTE Florida, one of the 20 companies participating in the I-4 Council. "What we would like to form is a Silicon Valley of the South."
That's a lofty goal. Although research programs at UCF and USF have helped central Florida make inroads in growing clusters of technology businesses in fields such as lasers and electro-optics, simulation and training, and marine science, low-skill, low-wage tourism jobs continue to dominate the region.
To make the leap to a high-tech economy, USF and UCF have mounted aggressive campaigns to build strong technology research facilities in fields that directly benefit the local business community, everything from software to medicine. By dangling the prospect of high-wage jobs before the Florida Legislature, USF and UCF last year were able to secure $1.5 million each in research funding -- 50% of the
$6 million in the Board of Regents budget for a new program that rewards universities that can attract matching grants of cash, equipment or other support from the private sector.
UCF is using its $1.5 million for three major projects: $1 million, matched with $2 million in equipment from Cirent Semiconductor, for an Advanced Materials Process and Analysis Facility that tackles engineering problems of interest to the semiconductor industry; $300,000, matched with $300,000 in federal appropriations, to fund a National Center for Forensic Science that will research standards for residue of explosives; and $200,000 in seed money for the Florida Space Institute.
USF's $1.5 million is earmarked for a variety of projects in the microelectronics, information systems and biomedical fields. The school also is offering medical, engineering and business faculty the chance to vie for 20 to 25 grants of $10,000 to $20,000 if they can line up private sector support for the research projects.
In addition, the Legislature in each of the past two years has supported the USF/UCF venture with a $925,000 appropriation in the Enterprise Florida budget designated for the I-4 initiative. That money has been used to set up the I-4 Corridor Council, arrange specialized training for Cirent technicians and operators, and provide $100,000 for a two-year program in microelectronics manufacturing technology at Valencia Community College. Most of the 1997-98 funding has yet to be spent, but $100,000 has been committed for a high-level computer-aided design (CAD) training center at UCF, and some money will be spent marketing the I-4 region to technology businesses.
While UCF and USF are taking the biggest chunk of the limited dollars offered by the Board of Regents matching grants program, Florida's other universities are taking notice. "They love us," UCF President Hitt says wryly, adding, "We get some kidding that there's going to be an
I-95 Corridor and an I-10 Corridor."
Although the I-4 Council's goal is to attract and grow more than a dozen types of technology businesses, the drive for a semiconductor manufacturing, or "wafer fab," plant similar to Orlando's Cirent facility has dominated the council's work during its short 18-month existence.
"Cash machines"
What makes semiconductor plants such hot properties? They create thousands of high-paying jobs, spawn technology-related support businesses and continually spend millions of dollars to upgrade facilities. Semiconductor manufacturing plants require a capital investment of $1 billion to $2 billion, with an additional $25 million to $150 million in annual spending for new equipment. The facilities employ 1,000 to 1,500 skilled workers who earn $30,000 to $150,000 a year. "They are virtually cash machines," says Mike Fitzgerald, president of international trade and economic development for Enterprise Florida.
Both USF and UCF have launched research related to the semiconductor industry, and the Legislature's additional funding is bolstering those programs. At USF, the Center for Microelectronics Research (CMR) within the College of Engineering conducts privately funded research projects in six state-of-the-art laboratories. UCF's new Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis facility will complement, but not duplicate, the research done at USF, according to Hitt.
Enterprise Florida is marketing the state aggressively in one-on-one meetings with national and international semiconductor manufacturers. One factor that helps Florida sell itself is the fact that the state already has two plants, run by Harris Corp. in Palm Bay and Cirent in Orlando. Harris has been making semiconductors in Brevard County since about 1955, and Cirent, then AT&T, moved to Florida in 1984 in part to have a facility near its fast-growing base of telephone customers. Now, the state is vying for one of about 10 semiconductor plants built each year by such U.S. companies as Intel, IBM and Motorola; Asian companies LG Semicon, Hyundai and Toshiba; and Europe's Siemens.
Back home, Enterprise Florida has identified a handful of Florida locations that meet, or almost meet, the necessary land, infrastructure and work force requirements for a semiconductor plant. At the top of the list are Bartow/Polk County, Orlando, Rockledge and Tampa, all of which fall within the I-4 Corridor's territory.
To boost Florida's chances in the battle for lucrative plants, the Legislature last year enacted a $30 million incentive program for "high-impact" businesses that make a capital investment of $100 million and create at least 100 jobs. In addition, they passed a sales tax refund program for silicon technology manufacturing or research equipment.
While those programs help Florida even the playing field with other states, they don't give the state a competitive edge, says Jon Cornell, former president of Harris Semiconductor and now a Florida-based technology consultant. An Enterprise Florida study, for example, reports that in 1995 the state of Virginia and one of its cities, Manassas, provided an incentive package worth more than $118 million -- almost four times Florida's total budget for incentives -- in its successful recruitment of a $1.2 billion IBM/Toshiba semiconductor plant. And Florida's recently enacted sales tax refund program for silicon equipment isn't unique. Nine of 11 top technology manufacturing states offer similar sales tax exemption programs, according to a survey by the Florida Department of Revenue.
Training
What is likely to make or break Florida's bid for a semiconductor plant is the state's ability to train engineers and technicians to staff the facility. Like the computer software industry, which faces a national shortage of qualified programmers, the semiconductor industry is struggling to cope with a diminishing pool of skilled workers. "The strategic issue is people," says Cornell. While the universities are gearing up to do their part, the overall focus on a well-educated work force raises questions as to whether Florida's sorry K-12 school system will hinder technology growth in the state. "If we are going to be able to improve the quality in the universities, we're going to have to focus back on improving the public schools," says Charles Reed, former chancellor of the Florida Board of Regents and a supporter of the USF/UCF I-4 initiative, adding, "There needs to be a real reform movement in K-12."
Enterprise Florida's Steve Mayberry, vice president of expansion and retention, downplays the state's weaknesses and paints a positive portrait of the state and its high-tech prospects. He says he's in discussions with three or four semiconductor companies, with two serious contenders for new plants. He won't name names, but one likely candidate, despite the Asian economic crisis, is Korea's LG Semicon, which visited Florida last year. "We're going after a large manufacturer from South Korea," says former Chancellor Reed. "We didn't used to be able to play in that league. They would have never come here before if it weren't for the universities."
Reed knows what's possible when an alliance begins running on all cylinders. In 1989, he forged the partnership among Florida State University, University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory that succeeded in attracting the National High-Magnetic Field Laboratory to Tallahassee. In 1985, when Reed became chancellor, the university system did about $135 million of contract research a year. In 1997, they did more than $750 million. Reed asserts: "Those who figure out how to partner universities, businesses and government will survive in the 21st century.
Florida 1-4 High Tech Corridor Council
Principal Partners
Betty Castor, President, University of South Florida
John Hitt, President,
University of Central Florida
Joe Antinucci, Lockheed Martin
Johnnie Breed, Breed Technologies
Jack Critchfield, Florida Progress
Peter Daks, GTE Florida
Pat Flynn, Reptron Electronics
John Hallal, Lockheed Martin
Nick Hildreth, Harris Corp.
Bob Koch, Cirent Semiconductor
George Mezo, Oracle Corp.
Lee Moffitt, P.A.
Dick Nunis, Walt Disney Attractions
Peter Panousis, Cirent Semiconductor
Dan Poutney, Peoples Gas System
Steve Raymund, Tech Data Corp.
Thom Sansone, Jabil Circuit Co.
Bill Schwartz, Schwartz Electro-Optics
Dick Snyder, Reflectone
Bill Starkey
Keith Surgenor, TECO
Owen Wentworth, AT&T
David Williams, Cirent Semiconductor
Executive Director
Randy Berridge