St. Petersburg College receives $7.2 million for AI, semiconductor program

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that $7.2 million will go to St. Petersburg College to establish a program that will educate people to work in the semiconductor and artificial-intelligence industries.

The award includes $3.2 million from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund program and $4 million from the Department of Education’s Workforce Development Capitalization Grant program.

DeSantis linked the effort to national security. “So, this is something that, yes, the jobs will be good. Yes, we have an opportunity for business development. But we need to do this stuff (the work) here in the United States,” DeSantis said during an appearance at the school.

The state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 includes $75 million for the Job Growth fund, which is designed to provide money for infrastructure projects and job-training programs.

The budget also provides $100 million for the Workforce Development Capitalization fund, which is available to school districts and state colleges.

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