Women in Semiconductors—WiS

Creating an inclusive workplace for women in the semiconductor industry is crucial for promoting diversity, fostering innovation, and ensuring equal opportunities. At a time when companies are scrambling to attract and retain talent, an inclusive workplace is even more critical to building a strong and sustainable workforce. While inclusion is different for everyone, there are some basic elements to inclusion. Employees need to feel valued, heard and have a sense of belonging, which drives engagement and creativity. For some employees, it includes a sense of psychological safety. For others, it might be the ability to speak confidently and have crucial conversations that affect their career. For others, it means having flexibility of choice. Fostering an inclusive and welcoming climate is vital to everyone’s success.

Who attends WiS? Company leaders, managers, team members, HR professionals, academia and students. Regardless of gender, we encourage attendance by everyone who is interested in creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive semiconductor industry, and by anyone who is responsible for developing internal or external programs to support women. 

• Participating in WiS was a positively illuminating experience! Any man in the Semiconductor Industry who cares about women’s issues should consider participating in the next WiS forum. It is not sufficient for men to hire women and support them in the workplace. Only by talking to women in this kind of structured forum or Employee Resource Group can men begin to truly understand and own the challenges still faced by women in the semiconductor industry today. As we begin to understand women’s issues, we can become their Allies and work to solve the issues together. It was a great opportunity to listen and begin a dialog about how together we can make a positive impact for women and other minorities in our industry. For any remaining skeptics, data shows that organizations who truly support women in industry experience higher satisfaction, lower turnover and substantial increases to financial performance – it’s just good business! Mark Blythe, CMO, Kokusai Semiconductor Equipment (past WiS attendee)

This year's program is co-chaired by Brittney Graff, PhD, Sr. Global Product Marketing Manager, Brooks Instrument and Mayrita Arrandale, Sales Account Manager, Applied Materials.  If you have questions about any WiS activities, sponsorship and/or other SEMI Foundation initiatives, please email mkindling@semi.org.