(SWEETWATER, Texas) – While it is true that Texas Instruments is known for making calculators, some Texas State Technical College students recently learned that the Dallas-based company does much more than that.
“Our calculators are the only thing that says Texas Instruments on the outside,” said Katie Peebles, a technician supervisor for the company.
Students in TSTC’s Automotive Technology, Diesel Equipment Technology, Electromechanical Technology and Wind Energy Technology programs learned that the company designs and builds semiconductors that are turned into chips.
“If it is something that goes, we probably manufactured the semiconductor to go into the chip,” said Laura Lynn De Loache, Texas Instruments’ campus recruiting manager in Dallas. “If it is cars, medical equipment, fitness equipment or something electric you wear, Texas Instruments has had a hand in it.”
De Loache said 62% of the company’s revenue comes from selling semiconductors to the automotive and other industries.
“We are in need of technicians now more than ever,” she said. “That is the reason we have been at all of TSTC’s job fairs. We need the workforce today.”
Peebles said what the students are learning could translate to jobs at Texas Instruments.
“With the skills you possess, you can do any of the technician responsibilities we offer,” she said.
Technicians who work in the company’s clean rooms are responsible for troubleshooting, repairing, and calibrating and performing equipment maintenance. The technicians’ goal is to create a manufacturable process for new technologies.
Texas Instruments has many technicians employed worldwide, and Peebles said there is always room for growth.
“I started out as a manufacturing specialist and then went back to school,” she said. “I went back to school and became a process technician. The opportunity then arose where I could become a product technician. Now I manage the group I used to be in. All you have to do is find what drives you and do it.”
De Loache said the company’s management strives for growth from within.
“All of our supervisors and managers support employee development at all levels,” she said.
Another goal for the company is safety.
“Texas Instruments has the best safety record in the semiconductor industry,” De Loache said. “We work hard to maintain our safety record.”
Jimmy Carter, an engineering supervisor at Texas Instruments, said the company looks for employees with specific traits.
“We want people who have the ability to be safe and who have the ability to be trained and coached,” he said. “If you like to go home and work on your car or take apart things, they apply to what we do at Texas Instruments. We use those kinds of skills, just in a different manner.”
De Loache said one reason she has visited with TSTC students throughout the state was to help build Texas Instruments’ workforce in Sherman. In May 2022, the company broke ground on its new 300-mm semiconductor wafer fabrication plant.
“With our company growing, our talent pool has to grow,” she said. “That is why we want to interview TSTC students. We have jobs available for them.”
For more information about TSTC, visit tstc.edu.
