Tech boom is transforming Sherman
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Sherman was founded in 1846 and named after Texas Revolution hero Sidney Sherman, who was credited with the battle cry “Remember the Alamo.” Photo: Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi/Axios
California has Silicon Valley. Texas has Silicon Prairie.
Why it matters: Sherman, just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border, has become a hub for semiconductor manufacturing amid the AI boom.
- Tech companies are transforming the once sleepy college town into an important job center in North Texas.
The big picture: Austin College, a private liberal arts school, has been in Sherman since 1876. But manufacturing is the city's most vital industry.
- Sherman's population increased around 20% between 2020 and 2025. The city had around 52,000 residents as of July 2025, per Census Bureau estimates.
What they're saying: "You have to pass by cornfields and cattle to get here. But once you're here, you have everything you need," Sherman mayor Shawn Teamann tells Axios.
- Yes, but: The city's history also includes the 1930 Sherman Riot, in which a mob lynched a Black farm worker and burned down the Black business district.
Follow the money: Apple sources components for its iPhones and iPads from Sherman-based companies GlobalWafers America and Coherent and Texas Instruments' SM1 plant.
- Coherent is also working with AI chipmaker Nvidia to boost the production of indium phosphide wafers in Sherman. The companies say the wafers form the optical backbone of modern AI infrastructure.
Reality check: Cities often experience growing pains — such as traffic congestion and insufficient water infrastructure — as their population increases.
- The Texas Department of Transportation is expanding U.S. 75 to help ease Sherman's traffic congestion.
The upside: Sherman's water rights to Lake Texoma, one of the country's largest reservoirs, may help the city buck the water supply crisis that other growing cities are experiencing.
- "We have the ability to pull water from the lake, treat it and send it out into the pipes to all of our businesses and residents, which gives us the ability to be efficient and to be scalable," Teamann says.
What we're watching: How Sherman's growth influences its identity as a big city with a small-town feel.