The Houston area is expected to employ 158,176 tech professionals this year, according to a new report by CompTIA. Photo via Getty Images.

Tech employment in the Houston metro area is expected to climb by more than two percent this year, according to a new projection.

CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce 2025 report forecasts the Houston area will employ 158,176 tech professionals this year, compared with an estimated 154,905 last year. That would be an increase of 2.1 percent.

These numbers take into account tech workers across all industries, not just those employed in the tech sector. Many of these professionals do work in the tech sector (40 percent), with the remainder (60 percent) employed in other sectors.

Even more impressive than the year-to-year increase is the jump in Houston-area tech employment from 2019 to 2025. During that period, tech employment grew 16.6 percent, according to the report.

The Houston area ranks eighth among major metro areas for the number of tech jobs expected to be added this year (3,271). Dallas rises to No. 1 for the most jobs expected to be added (projection of 13,997 new tech jobs in 2025), with Austin at No. 5 (7,750 new jobs) and San Antonio at No. 21 (1,617 new jobs).

On a state-by-state basis, Texas ranks first for the number of tech workers projected to be added this year (40,051)—up significantly from the 8,181 jobs estimated to be added in 2024—and second for the size of the tech workforce last year (972,747), the report says. The Lone Star State lands at No. 4 for the highest percentage (24 percent) of tech jobs expected to be added from 2025 to 2035.

Backed by a nearly $1.4 billion commitment from the state, the semiconductor industry is helping propel the growth of tech jobs in Houston and throughout Texas.

In 2023, the state launched the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund. The fund provides incentives to encourage semiconductor research, design and manufacturing in Texas. State lawmakers allocated $698.3 million for the fund. Another $660 million in state money will help establish semiconductor research and development centers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.

“Texas has the innovation, the infrastructure, and the talent to continue to lead the American resurgence in critical semiconductor manufacturing and the technologies of tomorrow,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a release.

The Houston area is benefiting from the semiconductor boom.

For example, chip manufacturer Nvidia and electronics maker Foxconn plan to build a factory in Houston that will produce AI supercomputers.

Nvidia said in April that the AI supercomputers “are the engines of a new type of data center created for the sole purpose of processing artificial intelligence — AI factories that are the infrastructure powering a new AI industry.”

Meanwhile, tech giant Apple plans to open a 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston that will manufacture servers for its data centers in support of Apple’s AI business. The Houston plant is part of a four-year, $500 million nationwide expansion that Apple unveiled in February.

The Greater Houston Partnership has the facts. Nick Bee/Pexels

4 things you need to know from the Greater Houston Partnership's annual report as it pertains to innovation

By the numbers

Every year, the Greater Houston Partnership — the city's economic development arm — gathers up data and reports to paint a full picture of the Bayou City. In the past few editions, innovation has been a key component.

The GHP's innovation coverage spans three pages under the top industry and sectors category. From tech startup growth to money raised, here's what you need to know from the 2019 Houston Facts.

Houston has the 12th largest tech sector in the United States

Christina Morillo/Pexels

The innovation section starts pretty strong with this fun fact. The No. 12 tech sector ranking comes from Computing Technology Industry Association, which cites that Houston has more than 223,000 tech workers. According to the report, about two-thirds of Houston's tech workers are in industries outside of computer and software.

GHP credits Houston's large population of tech workers to its connection to aerospace and oil and gas.

"As the home of NASA's Johnson Space Center and headquarters to the global energy industry, Houston has long been a global hub of engineering talent," the report reads. "In recent years, those skills have given rise to a thriving ecosystem of digital technology companies."

GHP's data reflect that Houston has more than 8,200 tech-related firms, which includes over 500 tech startups.

Venture funding was up over 50 percent between 2017 and 2018

Via Houston Facts


Houston's recorded venture funding doesn't have a hockey stick chart to brag about. Over the past few years, venture funding has been up and down, according to S&P Capital IQ.

"Houston companies in clean energy, health innovation and digital technology have received $3.1 billion in venture capital and growth funding across 333 deals since 2014, averaging $576 million every year," the report reads.

But between 2018 and 2017, VC funds were up 50.9 percent. Of the three categories, clean energy technology pulled in the most money each year and was responsible for 64 percent of the funding during the 2014-2018 period. Sunnova, a residential solar company, had the most money raised during this time with $1.3 billion.

The largest deals reported in Houston in 2018 were:

  • Sunnova Energy — $183 million
  • OncoResponse — $40 million
  • Trisun Energy Services — $39 million
  • Arundo Analytics — $25 million
  • Procyrion — $16 million
  • QuVa Pharma — $15 million
  • NeoSensory — $12 million

University-backed entrepreneurship remains strong

Courtesy of Rice University

The Princeton Review ranks Rice University and the University of Houston as having among the best entrepreneurship programs in the country. Rice runs its Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship out of its Jones Graduate School of Business, while University of Houston's Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship is housed in the Bauer College of Business.

Both schools have run accelerator programs for seven years — the past six of which have been in collaboration. Rice's OwlSpark and UH's RED Labs finished this summer's program on August 1 at the Bayou Startup Showcase with 16 startup pitches.

Meanwhile, the Rice Business Plan Competition is deemed the "richest pitch competition" in the country. In 2019, the competition saw $3 million invested. RBPC companies have gone on to raise $1.2 billion in capital during the competition's 18-year history.

At UH, which has its own set of pitch events, the Wolff Center's graduate students manage a million-dollar Cougar Venture Fund. The fund has a group of experts that analyze and invest in early stage technology companies.

The life science industry continues to grow

Via Houston Facts

In 2018, Houston housed 20.5 percent of the country's clinical trials, with over 1,800 active. The city has more than 1,760 life sciences companies and over 25,100 biotech experts and 7,200 medical researchers.

Thankfully, the money seems to match this volume of activity. Last year, Houston's medical research grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, which totaled $668 million in 2018, was up almost 7 percent from 2017. The city's medical institutions have received nearly $3 billion from NIH since 2014 — an average of $600 million a year.

According to the GHP, the top Houston institutions receiving NIH funding in 2018 were:

  • Baylor College of Medicine — $255 million
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center — $149 million
  • University of Texas Health Science Center — $90 million
  • University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston — $87 million
  • University of Houston — $24 million
  • Methodist Hospital Research Institute — $19 million
  • Rice University — $14 million
  • Texas Southern University — $3 million

As mentioned before, venture capital and private equity investment has increased in Houston, and that trend is also represented in the life science sector. In 2018, life science startups raked in $119 million, which represents a a 41.7 percent increase from $84 million in 201717, according to S&P Capital IQ.

In 2018, the top biotech firms receiving investment were:

  • OncoResponse — $40 million
  • Procyrion — $16 million
  • QuVa Pharma — $15 million
  • Pulmotect — $10 million
  • Tvardi Therapeutics — $9 million

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Mark Cuban calls AI ‘the greater democratizer’ for young entrepreneurs

eyes on AI

Texas billionaire Mark Cuban—whose investment portfolio includes Houston-based Holliball, a startup that makes and sells large inflatable holiday ornaments—believes AI is leveling the playing field for budding low-income entrepreneurs.

At the recent Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, the Shark Tank alum called AI “the greater democratizer.”

Cuban told Axios that free and low-cost AI tools enable disadvantaged teenagers to compete with seasoned professionals.

“Right now, if you’re a 14- to 18-year-old and you’re in not-so-good circumstances, you have access to the best professors and the best consultants,” Cuban said. “It allows people who otherwise would not have access to any resources to have access to the best resources in real time. You can compete with anybody.”

While Cuban believes AI is “the great democratizer” for low-income young people, low-income workers still face hurdles in navigating the AI landscape, according to Public Works Partners, an urban planning and consulting firm. The firm says access to AI among low-income workers may be limited due to cost, insufficient digital literacy and infrastructure gaps.

“Without adequate resources and training, these workers may struggle to adapt to AI-driven workplaces or access the educational opportunities necessary to acquire new skills,” Public Works Partners said.

Texas 2036, a public policy organization focused on the state’s future, reported in January AI jobs in Texas are projected to grow 27 percent over the next decade. The number 2036 refers to the year when Texas will celebrate its bicentennial.

As for the current state of AI, Cuban said he doesn’t think the economy is witnessing an AI bubble comparable to the dot-com bubble, which lasted from 1998 to 2000.

“The difference is, the improvement in technology basically slowed to a trickle,” Cuban said of the dot-com era. “We’re nowhere near the improvement in technology slowing to a trickle in AI.”

CPRIT hires MD Anderson official as chief cancer prevention officer

new hire

The Austin-based Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which provides funding for cancer research across the state, has hired Ruth Rechis as its chief prevention officer. She comes to CPRIT from Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she led the Cancer Prevention and Control Platform.

Before joining MD Anderson, Rechis was a member of the executive leadership team at the Livestrong Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit that supports people affected by cancer.

“Ruth has widespread connections throughout the cancer prevention community, both in Texas and across the nation,” CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle said in a news release. “She is a long-term passionate supporter of CPRIT, and she is very familiar with our process, programs, and commitment to transparency. Ruth is a terrific addition to the team here at CPRIT.”

Rechis said that by collaborating with researchers, policymakers, public health leaders and community partners, CPRIT “can continue to drive forward proven prevention strategies that improve health outcomes, lower long-term costs, and create healthier futures for all.”

At MD Anderson, Rechis and her team worked with more than 100 organizations in Texas to bolster cancer prevention initiatives at clinics and community-based organizations.

Rechis is a longtime survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes, which are part of a person’s immune system.