In recent decades, the production of semiconductors has shifted to Asia, away from the United States and Europe. The coronavirus pandemic served as a catalyst for the amplification of an ongoing trend when global supply chain disruptions led to significant chip shortages. The war in Ukraine brought another geopolitical disruption to supply chains. Recognizing that semiconductors are part of critical infrastructure, the United States and Germany are now currently heavily investing in semiconductor projects. The influx of so much new investment in communities will have a huge social and economic impact on a range of issues and will challenge city governments and their community stakeholders to develop long-term strategies that allow both the investing companies and local communities to thrive.
To support so-called semiconductor cities and communities on both sides of the Atlantic, the American Council on Germany, with support from the City of Magdeburg, has launched a new initiative called the German-American Semiconductor Cities Network. The three-year project will help key stakeholders from German and American cities where semiconductor companies have made or will make significant investments connect with each other to share ideas and experiences and, most importantly, identify specific strategies, measures, and best practices that can be implemented in their respective communities.
The goal of this project is to establish a network of stakeholders in the participating cities who, through personal and professional relationships, can regularly exchange information to address the social, economic, and structural impacts of semiconductor investments in their communities.
The project will focus on five issues affecting the cities:
- Sustainable project development
- Welcoming culture
- Urban development
- Education, training, and human resources development
- Semiconductor ecosystem
In 2024-2025, the German cities of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) and Dresden (Saxony) and the U.S. cities Chandler (Arizona) and Columbus/New Albany (Ohio) were represented with six decision-makers from each city selected to participate in one delegation trip to the United States and one to Germany. In addition, the participants engaged in monthly virtual roundtables throughout the year on the above-mentioned topics. In 2025-2026, participants from Austin (Texas) and the Albany Capital Region (New York) and the German cities of Hamburg/Itzehoe (Schleswig-Holstein) and Munich (Bavaria) will have a similar program together with a few representatives from the cities in the first program cohort as the network grows.
For more information, please contact Rob Fenstermacher, Chief Operations Officer, at rfenster@acgusa.org.
The German-American Semiconductors Cities Network is organized and administered by the American Council on Germany and supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).
Participant List 2025-2026
Albany
Clayton Besch
Project Manager – Site Development
Advance Albany County Alliance
Mark Eagan
President and CEO
Capital Region Chamber
Derek Martin
Senior Director of Outreach & External Relations
NY CREATES
Robyn Peterson
Assistant Director
Office of Workforce Development and Community Education
Hudson Valley Community College
David Rooney
Co-Executive Director
NYDesign
John Taylor
Director, International Supply Chain Development
GO-SEMI, Empire State Development
Amanda Vitullo-Huttig
Lead Economic Developer
National Grid
Austin
Susan Davenport
President and CEO
Opportunity Austin
Genesis Gavino
Chief of Staff
City of Austin
Garrett Groves
Vice Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives
Austin Community College District
Yael Lawson
CEO
Workforce Solutions Capital Area
Alyssa Reinhart
Director of Workforce Development
Texas Institute for Electronics at The University of Texas at Austin
Matthew Schmidt
Division Manager, Business Incentives and Expansion
City of Austin Economic Development
Anthony Segura
Interim Director, Austin Economic Development
City of Austin
Hamburg/Itzehoe
Amar Bolkan
Machine Learning Engineer
ARIC-Hamburg
Franziska Boneberg
Deputy Head Innovation and Industry
Hamburg Ministry of Economy, Labor and Innovation
Claudia Buschmann
Marketing and Public Relations Manager
Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology
Holger Kapels
Director, Institute for Power Electronic Devices
Hamburg University of Technology
Christoph Kober
Managing Director
IZET Innovation Center
Munich
Julia Christiansen
Director City Collaboration
City of Munich
Christina Schindler
Professor for Microsystems Technology
Munich University of Applied Sciences
Marlise Schneider
Postdoctoral Researcher
Technical University Munich
Jan Weber
Research Coordinator
Fraunhofer Society Munich
Participant List 2024-2025
Chandler, Arizona
Neil Calfee
Executive Director for Economic Development and Innovation Zones
Arizona State University
Kevin Hartke
Mayor
City of Chandler
John F. Knudson, P.E.
Public Works and Utilities Director and City Engineer
City of Chandler
Micah Robert Miranda, CEcD
Economic Development Director of the Economic Development Division
City of Chandler
Karla Teixeira Moran
Manager of Economic Development
Salt River Project (SRP)
Ryan Peters
Strategic Initiatives Director
City of Chandler
Columbus-New Albany, Ohio
Kristen Atha
Director of Public Utilities
City of Columbus
Alex Klosterman
Economic Development Specialist
City of New Albany
Erin Prosser
Deputy Director of Housing Strategies
City of Columbus
Devayani Puranik
Director of Development Programs
COTA-Central Ohio Transit Authority
Mike Schadek
Director of Regional Partnerships
City of Columbus
Almar Walter
VP & Chief Diversity Officer
Columbus State Community College
Dresden
Frank Bösenberg
Managing Director
Silicon Saxony e.V.
Dr. Lioba Buscher
Head of the Statistical Office
City of Dresden
René Herold
Head of the Office for Environment
City of Dresden
Dr. Matthias Lerm
Head of the Office for Urban Planning and Mobility
City of Dresden
Steffen Rietzschel
Head of the Office for Economic Development
City of Dresden
Kerstin Zimmermann
Head of the Office for City Strategy, International Affairs, and Citizen Outreach
City of Dresden
Magdeburg
Annett Lorenz-Kürbis
Member of the Executive Board and Head of the Magdeburg Branch Office
AENGEVELT Immobilien
Tobias Kutzler
Project Manager and Group Manager of Digital Logistics Infrastructure and Systems
Fraunhofer Institute for Factory and Automation IFF
Dr. Christian Psoch
Environmental Engineer for the Department of Economy, Tourism, and Regional Cooperation
City of Magdeburg
Prof. Dr. Susanne Schmidt
Professor and Chair of International Management
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg
Dr. Antje Schwan
Deputy Principal, Head of IB, and Teacher
Internationales Stiftungsgymnasium Magdeburg
Karolina Shlyapin
Project Manager of Supply Chain Management
City of Magdeburg
Sandra Yvonne Stieger
Deputy Mayor for the Department of Economy, Tourism, and Regional Cooperation
City of Magdeburg