Round Rock Backs PulseForge’s $20M Chip-Tool Expansion; Tesla Lists Next Robotaxi Cities

A Round Rock semiconductor equipment maker commits to 60 new jobs, Tesla publishes robotaxi safety data, and Austin-based T1 Energy wins a federal tariff waiver for solar cells.

Round Rock approved a performance-based incentive Thursday for PulseForge, a semiconductor equipment maker that plans to invest at least $20 million and add 60 jobs paying an average of $100,000 or more. Elsewhere in Silicon Hills, Tesla laid out plans to take its Cybercab beyond Austin and launched a public robotaxi safety website; Austin-headquartered T1 Energy received a Commerce Department waiver to keep its Texas solar module plant supplied; and Austin humanoid maker Apptronik’s Apollo robot appeared in a Google DeepMind demonstration.

PulseForge wins Round Rock incentive for $20M expansion, 60 jobs

The Round Rock City Council and the city’s Transportation and Economic Development Corp. on Thursday, Oct. 22, approved an economic development agreement with PulseForge, which makes equipment used in advanced semiconductor packaging, according to the city.

Under the deal, PulseForge must invest at least $20 million, including $6 million in real property improvements and $14 million in equipment and other business personal property, in two $10 million phases due by the end of 2029 and 2031. The company must keep its roughly 50 current employees and add at least 60 primary jobs with average salaries of at least $100,000. In return, the city will pay up to $600,000 from its Type B sales tax fund: $250,000 in 2030 and $350,000 in 2032, each tied to verified milestones and subject to clawbacks.

PulseForge, which traces its roots to Austin’s NovaCentrix, operates a 56,000-square-foot facility at 400 Parker Drive. The Round Rock Chamber has identified an adjacent 20,000-square-foot space for the expansion, Hoodline reported. Its photonic tools target chip packaging work, including high-bandwidth memory, a bottleneck in AI hardware.

“We’re proud that companies developing cutting-edge technology continue to choose Round Rock,” Mayor Craig Morgan said in the city’s announcement. The deal adds to Williamson County’s growing semiconductor supply chain anchored by Samsung’s fab in nearby Taylor.

Tesla names next robotaxi cities, publishes safety data

Tesla launched a Robotaxi safety webpage this week listing Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Phoenix, and San Antonio as coming “soon,” Tesla Oracle reported. Service currently runs in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Tesla says its Model Y robotaxis and Cybercabs logged 3.1 million autonomous miles through Oct. 18 with no reported injuries, airbag deployments or pedestrian or cyclist strikes. The company did not break out Austin figures, and the data is self-reported.

On its third-quarter earnings call Wednesday, Tesla said the steering-wheel-free Cybercab, which so far carries riders only in Austin, will expand to Dallas next month, with more cities by year’s end and sales to fleet operators starting by the end of 2026, TechCrunch reported. CFO Vaibhav Taneja said Tesla aims to “literally take over every part of terrestrial transportation.” The company did not disclose paid ride counts, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reviewing whether the Cybercab meets federal safety standards.

T1 Energy gets federal waiver to import solar cells

Austin-headquartered T1 Energy said Oct. 22 that the U.S. Commerce Department granted it a time-limited waiver to import up to 1.725 gigawatts of solar cells under the Section 232 polysilicon proclamation issued in August, according to the company.

The cells will keep T1’s G1_Dallas module factory running while the company builds its own cell plant, G2_Austin, in Rockdale, about 60 miles northeast of Austin. T1 expects first cell output from the 2.1-gigawatt first phase there in the first quarter of 2027. CEO Dan Barcelo said “customer demand for domestic solar cells and modules has meaningfully risen” since the proclamation. T1 says it employs about 1,200 people in Texas.

Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid learns cornhole in Google DeepMind demo

Google DeepMind used Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid to showcase Gemini 4 Argon, its newest frontier model, on Oct. 22, Robotics & Automation News reported. In the demo, Argon watched a video of a person playing cornhole, generated a simulation, and transferred the skill to Apollo, which sank seven straight shots in a real-world trial.

Google says the “video-to-sim-to-real” approach can cut weeks of manual simulation work to hours. The showcase keeps Austin-based Apptronik, a University of Texas spinout and longtime DeepMind partner, at the center of the race to give humanoid robots general-purpose skills.

Also in Silicon Hills

  • Samsung has reportedly ordered equipment to add about 6,000 wafers per month at its first Taylor fab, filling remaining space and targeting up to 20,000 2-nanometer wafers monthly by the second half of 2027, citing Korean media. Samsung has not confirmed the report. (Sammy Fans)
  • Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park completed the preliminary design review for its Elytra spacecraft on NASA’s MoonFall mission, which will deliver JPL-built drones to the lunar south pole; launch readiness is targeted for late 2028. (GlobeNewswire)
  • The Del Valle ISD Education Foundation won a €100,000 F1 Allwyn Global Community Award to expand STEM scholarships and teaching grants for 12,000 students near Circuit of the Americas, ahead of this weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix. (GlobeNewswire)
  • LeanDNA, a supply chain software company, will host its invite-only Manufacturing Excellence Summit in Austin Oct. 28-30 with speakers from Boeing, Ford and Siemens. (PR Newswire via Yahoo Finance)

Only in Austin

Austin once mounted an all-out rescue for a tree. In 1989, city forester John Giedraitis noticed dead grass ringing the centuries-old Treaty Oak, and soil tests turned up Velpar, a potent herbicide. Someone had poured up to a gallon around the roots, though a few ounces can kill a mature tree. A jury convicted Paul Stedman Cullen, who got nine years. Meanwhile, Austinites left get-well cards at the trunk, and a Dallas psychic tried beaming healing energy into it. About a third of the oak recovered, and it still stands today, according to KUT.

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