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March 27, 2023

EU Chips Act: Realizing Europe's Ambition by 2030: Part 2

Culture-first leadership key to cultivating the workforce for a sustainable future

This article is the second of a two-part series with highlights of Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) Europe. Read Part 1.
 

Closing the talent gap through workplace inclusivity and employee belonging

While opportunities for disruption across the semiconductor value chain hold great promise, none will be realized without a solution to the European industry’s talent challenge. Engineering talent is already scarce, and for the semiconductor industry to double revenues by 2030 it will need to significantly expand its skilled workforce across all disciplines.

The good news is that solutions are known – focus on people and culture to improve workplace inclusivity and the industry’s image to retain top talent and attract newcomers, engage with students as early as possible to promote the industry and how semiconductors improve life quality and help solve global issues like climate change, and establish women-focused recruitment initiatives to tap the underutilized female talent pool. Nevertheless, progress has been limited.

While the industry is grappling with a talent crisis, it is also impacted by global macroeconomic forces, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions even as it pursues ambitious sustainability targets. Overcoming the talent crisis calls for radical change to the industry’s current practices.

The panel discussion Closing the Talent Gap and Cultivating the Workforce of Tomorrow, with representatives from industry and academia, focused on generational diversity, exploring the semiconductor industry through the eyes of generation Z. Clara Haubenwallner, a student assistant at the Technical University of Graz, said “It’s bad overall. In fact, non-existent. Most people don’t know the industry at all.”

 

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Left to right: Moderator, Cassandra Melvin, Senior Director of Business Development and Operations at SEMI Europe; Isabella Drolz, VP Product Marketing at Comet Yxlon; Léo Saint-Martin, DECISION Etudes and Conseil, METIS Project; Anna McEvoy, Project Team Lead Semiconductor Service at Edwards Vacuum; Clara Haubenwallner, Student Assistant at Graz University of Technology

 

Léo Saint-Martin, an Associate Consultant at DECISION Etudes et Conseil, pointed out that the lack of industry awareness is a much bigger problem for Europe than, for example, Taiwan because the semiconductor industry is small relative to the size of the European economy as a whole. He also noted that there are no European companies large enough to anchor the domestic industry in the way that Intel does in the U.S. or Samsung in South Korea.

Panelists were united in the view that, to be attractive to the wealth of young talent in Europe, the semiconductor industry must make two major changes: become more diverse and inclusive and recognize the progressive attitudes that young people bring to their work life – in particular, the definition of work-life balance.

 

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Rebecca Dobson, EMEA Corporate VP at Cadence

 

Cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce in order to make significant progress on closing the talent gap requires clear and committed leadership, said Rebecca Dobson, EMEA Corporate VP at Cadence. She stressed the importance of prioritizing diversity in hiring requirements and explained that diversity can take many forms. “It can include hiring from overseas, or rethinking the qualifications we need. Does an engineering job really require a Ph.D., or would an undergraduate degree be sufficient? For roles where we currently demand an undergraduate degree, could we actually hire an apprentice or high school leaver?”

SOITEC CEO Pierre Barnabé said that diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the company’s strategy. “We want to be a reference point for the industry on diversity and inclusion, and to make our employees proud,” he said. Soitec was honored with the 2021 Award for the SEMI Industry Leader in Diversity and Inclusion, in part because today 25% of the company’s executive committee is female – and progress is still underway. Barnabé said the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts have improved its overall performance.

 

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Pierre Barnabé, CEO at SOITEC

 

During her talk When Changing the World isn’t Enough: How Edwards is Tempting Talent, Eliska Cepickova, Operations Manager EMEA Semiconductor at Edwards Vacuum, said that a culture first mindset is key to improving workplace culture and employee morale and to ensuring a healthy long-term talent pipeline. Cepickova noted the Edwards’ approach to recruiting talent starts with a vision: to be “the most attractive industrial company in our segments and target markets.” A culture first mindset “is about creating an inclusive environment, a sense of purpose, promoting well-being, and generating a sense of belonging.” She pointed to the company’s focus on sustainability as a core component of putting culture first. “It’s a beautiful message that semiconductors have such a huge role to play in greening the planet,” she said.

 

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Eliska Cepickova, Operations Manager EMEA Semiconductor at Edwards Vacuum

 

Sustainability in semiconductor manufacturing

With the semiconductor manufacturing’s large carbon footprint, it must find ways to drive environmentally sustainable growth in unit shipments, partly by reducing a fabrication plant’s power consumption, said Dallal Slimani, VP of the Semiconductor Segment at Schneider Electric. She cited the example of a semiconductor company that Schneider is helping to achieve carbon neutrality by 2027 by providing systems for:

  • Monitoring resource usage
  • Identifying opportunities to save energy and resources
  • Reporting progress against sustainability goals
  • Automating actions to achieve energy savings

 

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Dallal Slimani, VP of the Semiconductor Segment at Schneider Electric

 

Slimani said an ERP-level tool, Resource Advisor, enables users to track greenhouse gas emissions by site, draw comparisons to similar sites, and learn from best practices.

Semiconductor manufacturers must also address process gases, and reduce carbon emissions from electricity usage. CF4, for instance, is a commonly used etch gas with a global warming potential some 6,500 times greater than carbon dioxide, underscoring the importance of increasing the effectiveness of abatement systems in the sub-fab, said Chris Bailey, VP of Engineering Systems and Solutions at Edwards, adding that effective abatement starts with accurate data. “We have to know what comes out of a chamber, not what goes into it,” he noted.

Chip manufacturers must also improve the effectiveness of materials usage and abatement in the fab, Bailey said. One new technology introduced late last year is designed to recover and recycle hydrogen (H2), which is used in EUV lithography at a rate of hundreds of liters per minute. Collaborating with imec as part of its Sustainable Semiconductor Technologies and Systems (SSTS) program, Edwards has developed technology for recovering H2 that would previously have been disposed of by burning.

The successful deployment has returned more than 11 million liters of H2 to imec’s Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) tool, at a purity exceeding tool manufacturer specifications. As Bailey pointed out, the recovery tool not only reduces energy consumption by 54%, and conserves material resources, “it also greatly eases the challenge of procuring, transporting, and storing large quantities of hydrogen.”

 

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Chris Bailey, VP of Engineering Systems and Solutions at Edwards Vacuum

 

Sustainability is also a priority for semiconductor assembly equipment manufacturer Besi. SVP of Technology Chris Scanlan said Besi has an active sustainability program covering its own activities, but that “we can do more to address the climate crisis by reducing the impact of the use of our equipment in the field than by anything that happens internally at Besi.”

To that end, Besi has made product sustainability a high corporate priority. Already the company has reduced its average power consumption by 9%. Scanlan said, “We focus on reducing power consumption in the design of all new products. For instance, we now insulate hot molding machines and thermally isolate them from the enclosure of the machine to reduce the energy required to maintain their high operating temperature.” He praised the work of SEMI working groups on sustainability, telling delegates that tools such as SEMI S23-1216E had helped Besi to follow best practices in assessing environmental impacts.

Michelle Li, Founder of clever carbon, a startup committed to raising carbon footprint literacy and creating a carbon literate society to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, is working to help companies reach net-zero targets faster and create scalable technologies and solutions. Li said that personal choices such as diet, transportation methods, home energy sources, and electronic device usage determine an individual’s carbon footprint – and collectively they impact climate change. She encouraged participants to take clever carbon’s quiz that gauges an individual’s carbon footprint and share the results on social media platforms to raise awareness and promote carbon literacy.

Collaboration and leadership key to Europe’s future

Indeed, opportunities abound for building on the foundation of the EU’s Chips Act as the industry looks toward a potential doubling in size by 2030. In his closing remarks, SEMI President Laith Altimime reminded delegates that individual companies or governments cannot achieve success on their own. A vibrant future for the industry depends on collaboration between companies, across national borders, and over the full stack of technologies involved in the semiconductor value chain.

“It is clear where opportunity lies – in smart mobility, AI, medical technology, and smart manufacturing. But it is imperative that we are aligned with the growing industries of the future to ensure that we get the most benefit from an integrated semiconductor supply chain,” Altimime said.

A memorable year for ISS Europe

At the gala dinner at historic Hofburg Vienna palace to close ISS Europe, guests enjoyed an evening of exceptional entertainment, dining, and networking.

 

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Hofburg Vienna, palace and former the imperial residence

 

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The Vienna Musicality Quartet, comprised of Ukrainian musicians, performed at the gala dinner

 

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On behalf of SEMI, the SEMI Europe team and ISS Europe committee thanks ISS Europe speakers, sponsors, and attendees for making the event the most successful ISS Europe to date. Looking forward to returning to Vienna for ISS Europe March 7-8, 2024!

Cassandra Melvin is senior director of Business Development and Operations at SEMI Europe.