Pike Powers

Pike Powers (May 1, 1941 – October 31, 2021) John Pike Powers IV was a visionary civic entrepreneur, public servant and attorney who played a pivotal role in transforming Austin, Texas, from a sleepy state capital and college town into a major technology hub.1 It could be said that Austin’s economy and culture is divided into two parts: before Pike Powers and after Pike Powers.

Aside from his legal work and a stint as executive assistant to Texas Gov. Mark White, Powers volunteered his time, crafting complex, laser-targeted incentive packages that attracted a series of game-changing enterprises to the city -- two major research and development (R&D) consortia, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) in 1983 and the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology Initiative (SEMATECH) in 1987, followed by a series of major R&D and manufacturing hubs -- 3M, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Samsung Semiconductor's multi-faceted investment in semiconductor fabrication.2

These initiatives leveraged the engineering and scientific talent and resources of the University of Texas at Austin as the centerpiece of a technology ecosystem where new ideas led to research which fed development and commercialization, and large enterprises created new, entrepreneurial ones. The process made both the city and the university wealthy, raising the profile of the University of Texas’ Cockrell School of Engineering by attracting the investment, faculty and facilities necessary to make it a world-class research powerhouse. 3

Early Life and Career 

Powers was born in Beaumont, Texas, attended Lamar University and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1965, where he learned how to structure the huge deals that would make him a force in economic development. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972, representing Jefferson County until 1979. In 1978, he opened the Austin office of the legendary Houston-based law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton, Fulbright & Jaworski) where he served as managing partner until his 2006 retirement.4

Accomplishments

From 1983-4, Powers served as executive assistant to Texas Governor Mark White and was instrumental in structuring the bid that won MCC. the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. Austin was an unlikely choice for MCC, which chose Admiral Bobby Ray Inman to head its selection process. Knowing the selection committee’ emphasis on education and R&D resources weighed heavily in the final selection process, the bid made the talent and facilities of the University of Texas’ engineering school the centerpiece of an $47 million offer that included 32 endowed chairs in electrical engineering, material, computer science, molecular biology, chemistry, math and physics funded by the Dallas philanthropist Peter O’Donnell).5

At the time, the University of Texas’ Cockrell school was ranked 14th among other U.S. engineering schools6. The infusion of talent and resources transformed it into a world-class institution which today ranks #6 among U.S. News & World Reports Best Engineering Schools). Five years later, Hans Mark, then chancellor of the University of Texas System later calculated that in the school received $2.25 million per year from MCC in graduate student support, adjunct faculty, research grants and research equipment on their initial $14 million investment.7 In a move that would prove critical to future collaborative R&D initiatives, Powers also mobilized the Texas Congressional delegation to resolve antitrust issues, an initiative which ultimately resulted in the 1984 National Cooperative Research Act. 8

Powers’ experience paid off in the 1987 competition to SEMATECH, a public-private partnership jointly funded by the Dept. of Defense and the semiconductor industry aimed at recapturing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing from the Japanese. The blow to U.S. competitiveness was accompanied by the loss of thousands of jobs as manufacturing was offshored and fears that semiconductors critical to national defense were no longer manufactured domestically.

Powers led Austin’s bid for SEMATECH in 1987, ultimately winning the competition against 137 cities in 34 states. Facilities, including a clean room, were key elements of the bid. Powers pulled together a proposal that leveraged the University of Texas’s resources at a total of about $50 million, over $37 million of which was reimbursed by the Texas Legislature in 1989.9 That same year, the University of Texas invested $22 million to double the school’s computer chip research operations and provide students with a 12,000 square foot clean room to explore new research methods. The building, the Microelectronics and Engineering Research Building.10

In 1996, he secured Austin’s position as a semiconductor hub by recruiting Samsung Semiconductor, an investment of $17 billion (and growing) in Austin and surrounding communities11. Powers’ skill at crafting complex funding initiatives have continued to help the state attract companies like Apple, Oracle and Toyota through the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund in its time attracted dozens of early-stage initiatives to the area. 12

A champion of clean energy, Powers was a key supporter of the Pecan Research project which explored the impact of alternate power sources on the Mueller development, a community built on the site of an old airport. The Pike Powers Commercialization Lab is located at that site.

Collaboration and Commercialization

A tireless collaborator, Powers worked with and supported a cadre of brilliant innovators – including Dr. George Kozmetsky, Frank McBee, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, Laura Kilcrease and many others -- to jumpstart the startup culture in Austin with a focus on commercializing university-based the research and development:

   Austin Chamber of Commerce, chair (1989) and vice chair (1990 

   IC2 Institute 

   Austin Technology Incubator 

   Austin Area Research Organization  

   100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States (1988,1991, 1994) 

   Governor’s Science and Biotechnology Council (2002-3) 

   Austinite of the Year (2005) 

   Texan of the Year (2017)13 

Late Career

Powers continued exert influence until the end of life, working with the University of Texas and City of Austin leadership to recruit programs like the award-winning technology incubator, MassChallenge, the Army Futures Command and the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School.