This is the first of a multi-part series on the transitions happening at NeoCity, an economic and legislative priority in Osceola County.
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SkyWater, which specializes in development and manufacturing of integrated circuits, has taken over operation of the Center of NeoVation from the University of Central Florida. FILE PHOTO
SkyWater Technology is producing semiconductors for the military at the $75 million fabrication facility at NeoCity built by Osceola County. More importantly, they’re hiring.
The Minnesota-based company is looking for engineers, managers and technicians. “Joining our team means contributing to the commercialization of some of the most exciting technologies the world has ever seen,” says the company’s job ad intro on Indeed.com.
The county built the semiconductor “fab” and tech park in an effort to diversify the local economy, from its traditional tourism and agriculture base and more toward the higher-paying technology industry.
SkyWater took over the fab in February and appears to be breathing new life into the beleaguered technology park since the University of Central Florida abruptly pulled out of the project last summer amid administrative shake-ups at the school.
Already a Department of Defense “trusted foundry,” the company has replaced UCF as the anchor tenant and is bringing a distinctly commercial appeal to NeoCity. It’s also helping BRIDG — the technology park’s nonprofit entity — fulfill $30 million in semiconductor contracts with DOD.
Osceola County Manager Don Fisher told the Gazette that DOD officials helped keep the BRIDG contracts afloat during the changeover and approved of SkyWater taking over for UCF.
“We followed their cues,” Fisher said.
Along with other NeoCity and BRIDG representatives, such as Osceola School Board Chairman Clarence Thacker, Fisher met weekly with officials from the U.S. Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program at the Pentagon. The program addresses the “increasingly global, commercial, and financially complex industrial supply chain essential to our national defense,” according to its website.
“It really has been a tremendous benefit for the acceleration of business at NeoCity with (SkyWater) coming in,” said Fisher, who chairs the board of directors for BRIDG and has overseen the 500-acre NeoCity development since its inception nearly a decade ago.
DOD is seeking more domestically-produced semiconductors to increase security in everything from weapons systems to cell phones. Couple that with a backlog in the Asia-based semiconductor supply chain because of the pandemic, and it positions both SkyWater and BRIDG to grow, according to officials.
BRIDG and its board of directors were established by UCF and will continue operations at NeoCity despite the school’s departure from the project, Fisher said.
The entity’s nonprofit status qualifies it for certain contracts and grants unavailable to commercial companies, which makes it advantageous to continue, he said.
Operating funds for BRIDG currently come from a $22 million transition fund from UCF. The county financed the $75 million fab and accompanying $26 million office building, the latter of which should generate revenue with more tenants, Fisher said.
The county built the fab to attract companies just like SkyWater by saving them the cost of building it themselves. For example, the facility’s uber-sterile “clean room,” is one of the largest in Florida and critical to semiconductor manufacturing.
The fab opened in 2017 and has maintained several tenants including the Belgian tech company imec. In 2019, the Osceola County School District opened the NeoCity Academy charter school, and BRIDG began winning defense contracts.
But then came 2020. And like many, NeoCity took a hit.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a $10 million appropriation for BRIDG that summer and UCF began laying off dozens of BRIDG employees, the project’s future looked bleak.
But with SkyWater now on board, Osceola County’s investment in NeoCity appears poised to start paying off, Fisher said.
“This has put us on the map in terms of what we can be and will be,” he said. “We’re doing this as a means to diversify the economy.”
Read our story next week on efforts to attract tech companies in South Korea to NeoCity.
