AI job creation tested
Nvidia's CEO pledges AI will create 1,000 manufacturing jobs in Texas, testing its employment impact.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang broke ground Tuesday on a new factory near Sherman, Texas, backed by a $2 billion partnership with materials maker Coherent. The facility will produce specialized laser components that let AI chips share data at the speed of light — and Huang says it will create 1,000 jobs. "AI is not coming for your jobs; it is coming to give your factory a nervous system," Huang said, according to AP News.
The announcement is being watched closely as a real-world test. Can AI actually create manufacturing jobs in America — or will it quietly replace the workers it promises to help?
What Nvidia Is Building in Texas and Why
The Sherman factory will make materials for tiny lasers called VCSELs — vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. These lasers transmit data between computer chips using light instead of copper wire. That switch matters because Nvidia's latest AI chips need to share data incredibly fast. Copper is too slow and too hot. Light-based connections solve both problems, according to AP News.
Coherent CEO Jim Anderson called the deal transformative. "Our partnership with Nvidia turns raw materials into the 'connective tissue' of the global AI infrastructure," he said, per Newsday. The U.S. has historically outsourced this type of manufacturing to Southeast Asia. This factory is a direct effort to bring it home.
1,000 Jobs Promised — But Who Gets Them?
Nvidia says the factory will create 1,000 total jobs. About 550 will be in engineering, technical, and advanced manufacturing roles. The other 450 will be in general manufacturing. Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the news. "Texas is now the undisputed capital of the semiconductor world," he said, according to LMT Online.
Labor groups are not convinced the gains will last. A regional labor representative told The Seattle Times that the 550 technical jobs are "great for PhDs" but warned the remaining 450 manufacturing roles need to be "protected from automation-creep within five years." The concern is simple: AI could eventually run the very factory it helped build.
Export Controls and Security Risks Cloud the Celebration
The announcement landed the same week the Trump administration reversed course on AI exports. The White House placed new security restrictions on AI company Anthropic's latest models, signaling a tighter grip on American AI technology. The White House also confirmed that the high-end lasers made in Sherman will face the same strict "Tier 1" export controls as Nvidia's top chips, according to AP News.
Security analysts warn those controls could block this factory's products from roughly 40% of the global market. That would create a surplus of advanced components inside the U.S. while the rest of the world goes without — a situation experts say could fuel black-market smuggling, per KTVB.
Texas Grid and Local Housing Feel the Pressure Early
The factory and nearby data centers needed to test the chips will draw an estimated 400 megawatts of power — enough to run 80,000 homes. Texas's ERCOT power grid is already under strain. Critics, including environmental reporters at The Guardian, note that Indium Phosphide — one of the key materials made here — produces toxic byproducts during manufacturing.
The economic ripple effects are already showing up locally. Home prices in Sherman have jumped 18% since the partnership was announced, according to research cited by Yahoo Finance. The "Silicon Prairie" region around Sherman and Denison is projected to see a 12% rise in median household income over the next three years — if the jobs materialize as promised.
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