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Local officials cut a ceremonial ribbon Thursday to welcome Plug and Play -- and they got to work right away at NeoCity. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
Welcome to the Plug and Play era at NeoCity.
In the world of technology, “plug and play” means to seamlessly add a piece to an array of tools, and make it part of the experience. Osceola County — NeoCity in particular — is about to do the same with semiconductor talent, thanks to a Silicon Valley-based platform of the same name.
Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play cited NeoCity’s close proximity to America’s only unique intersection of spaceport, seaport, airport, and rail transportation facilities and industries as a factor in starting operations in Osceola County, joining with local leaders last week to cut a symbolic ribbon to formally welcome Plug and Pay to NeoCity.
An initial three-year program of County funding for startups was approved last September, with $2 million in the first year, and $1.5 million in the second and third years. Looking forward, county officials and NeoCity staff are focused on private investment in the 500-acre site.
“Plug and Play will help to bring a ‘can do’ spirit of entrepreneurship to the students of the NeoCity Academy and university students across Osceola and Orlando,” said Plug and Play CEO Saeed Amidi.
“Plug and Play brings connection from corporations and industries from all over the world to NeoCity,” said imec Executive Vice President Max Mirgoli.
Thursday, the State’s Secretary of Commerce, Alex Kelly, Amidi, Mirgoli, Osceola County Commission Chairwoman Cheryl Grieb, County Commissioners Brandon Arington and Ricky Booth, State Senator Victor Torres and County Manager Don Fisher were part of the ribbon cutting.
And by Thursday afternoon, Plug and Play executives and staff were already hard at work evaluating pitches from ten existing high-tech startups from literally all over the world, including Australia and the Republic of Korea. The startups hope to become one of the annual 20 startups that will receive mentoring and assistance in searching for clients over the next three to six months, with a possibility of receiving investment funding at the end of that time.
“One of our goals is for private funding to expand the FAB (semiconductor fabrication) building within the next year,” said Fisher during his remarks prior to the ribbon cutting.
Plug and Play has worked with firms like DropBox, SoundHound, US Bank, prominent insurance companies like Progressive, Aflac, The Hartford, State Farm and Farmer’s, electronic giants Samsung, LG and Kyocera, with world’s largest automotive and parts manufacturers and other global brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Panasonic and Visa.
Domestic semiconductor manufacturing has become a national security issue since the world’s chip manufacturing became concentrated in the Republic of China (Taiwan) over the last two decades. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation has a 55 percent world market share, and the island nation, independent of the larger communist People’s Republic of China (PRC), manufactures over 60 percent of the global supply of semiconductor chips, and, more critically, approximately 90 percent of the most complex chips needed for defense and other high-end electronics.
With the PRC openly threatening armed invasion of Taiwan, under the guise of “reunifying” China, both the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) and the world's major economic powers have been working to disperse the physical locations of chip manufacturing.
Due to the need for a highly skilled workforce and extremely complex expensive fabrication facilities to manufacture the highest-end semiconductor chips, this has been a slow process. TSMC is constructing a facility in Arizona, and the European Union is working to develop chip-making facilities in Germany and the Netherlands.
NeoCity, and its framework of implementing partners, including imec, BRIDG, SkyWater Technology Foundry, and now Plug and Play, and with its state-of-the-art the art, Department of Defense “trust” accredited facilities are ideally situated to provide a critical research and manufacturing capability for North America.
NeoCity has benefited from a slew of high-dollar grants, with some of the largest dollar amounts being awarded in late 2023 and into 2024. In 2022 NeoCity was awarded a $50.8 million grant from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. 2023 saw a multi-phase grant award from the Department of Defense, starting with an initial funding allocation of $3.65 million to help with workforce development and commitments valued at $120 million. There are options for an additional $169 million, for a potential total of $289 million. Also in 2023, the County secured a $17.5 million grant from the State of Florida for high-tech lab space and other infrastructure. Earlier this year NeoCity was designated by the National Science Foundation as one of its top 10 regional innovation engines in the nation, which includes a grant for $15 million over two years, and a possible $160 million over ten years.
For more information on the Plug and play technology incubator see https://bit.ly/43IeUjK
