U.S. government addresses critical workforce shortages for the semiconductor industry with new program
To avoid a shortage of fab workers in 2030.
Bloomberg reports that the program called a workforce partner alliance, will utilize a portion of the $5 billion allocated to the new National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC). The NSTC plans to distribute grants ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to up to 10 workforce development projects. Additional application processes will be launched in the coming months, and total spending will be determined after all proposals are reviewed.
Last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) estimated that by 2030, there will be a shortage of 67,000 workers in the U.S. semiconductor industry. To avoid or at least minimize this issue, the U.S. government is initiating a program to develop the U.S. semiconductor workforce. This initiative aimed to prevent a labor shortage that could hinder domestic chip production, which is part of the general strategy to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry with substantial federal funding.
Funding for this initiative comes from the 2022 Chips and Science Act, which earmarked $39 billion for U.S. chip manufacturing grants and $11 billion for semiconductor research and development. This act has prompted companies to commit significant investments that are expected to transform the global semiconductor supply chain and the U.S. semiconductor industry.
There is a pressing need for labor investment, as new chipmaking facilities might struggle without qualified personnel. In addition to the SIA’s gloomy prediction of an insufficient workforce in the semiconductor sector by 2030, even more pessimistic industry estimates (cited by Bloomberg) predict a shortfall of 90,000 technicians by 2030, a critical issue as the U.S. aims to produce 20% of the world’s most advanced chips by then.
The Semiconductor Industry Association anticipates that the U.S. chip industry will add nearly 115,000 jobs by 2030. By the decade's end, the workforce will expand from approximately 345,000 to 460,000. However, the labor market may have difficulty meeting this demand. According to SIA, with current rates of degree completions, about 67,000 of these projected new jobs — 58% — are expected to remain unfilled.
Since the enactment of the CHIPS Act, over 50 community colleges have introduced or expanded programs related to semiconductor technology. The largest recipients of the Chips Act manufacturing awards, including Intel, TSMC Samsung, and Micron, have each allocated $40 million to $50 million specifically for workforce development.
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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atmapuri This is considered as a given (that there will be enough workers), but is in fact not sure at all how this will be achieved. The US and EU are in the similar position to that of the Roman Empire 2000 year ago, where the slave labor force was drying up and there was simply no work force anymore. Anywhere!Reply -
hotaru251 Imagine if US removed the RR era change that destroyed college system and allowed people to attend college & thus having many more people for these type of jobs...Reply -
abufrejoval I can't imagine that any amount of money (carrot) could make me walk around 60 hours a week in a plastic suit.Reply
Unless you face starvation or Asian school tuition fees (stick).
I guess that's why they make more chips that kids these days and play Sims instead. -
abufrejoval
While I was in the US when Ronny came into office (and my dad had to suffer the $ exchange rate going up as a consequence), neither I nor my kids had or have to pay tons of money to go to university. And we both even had the choice (not always taken) of going to a good university reachable from the family home and thus with nearly zero living expenses.hotaru251 said:Imagine if US removed the RR era change that destroyed college system and allowed people to attend college & thus having many more people for these type of jobs...
And while I suffered a childhood without computers (like Ronny, they came later), they had computers before they learned to write.
That still didn't have them follow me into IT or any engineering field.
That could be lazy, but I hated Math, too. I love technology, but they are mostly into gaming and way better at it than I.
Tech has lost a lot of appeal and trust, that as an engineer you'll be able to have a good life for life.
I blame RR for a lot of things, but pushing that on him doesn't seem as forgone a conclusion to me as it seems for you. -
watzupken While this is a step in the right direction, but I do think it is too late. The problem is that the govt threw money to attract fabs to onshore in the US, and those fabs are planned to come to production in the next few years. Training a workforce that will only be ready in 3 or 4 years time is late. What I foresee is that you have a bunch of foreign talents that will dominate such roles due to the gap now, which then leaves the fresh grads with roles that may be unattractive when they graduate.Reply -
Tiglaf-Palazer
America has always had a labor shortage, that's why slavery worked here longer than it did in a lot of other places. The solution to a labor shortage is innovation. We need to replace worker-intensive processes with simpler builds and more automation. America's biggest advantage in the world has always been our pragmatic outlook and can-do spirit. Rome lost that because cheap plentiful slaves made innovation unnecessary.atmapuri said:This is considered as a given (that there will be enough workers), but is in fact not sure at all how this will be achieved. The US and EU are in the similar position to that of the Roman Empire 2000 year ago, where the slave labor force was drying up and there was simply no work force anymore. Anywhere!