Workforce Development

SEMI Korea’s efforts to recruit talent and increase diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) to help meet the semiconductor industry’s current and future workforce needs are growing in importance as the industry presses ahead to recruit skilled workers.

The Workforce Development Pavilion (WFD) returned to SEMICON West 2022 Hybrid with three days of programming and activities to address workforce development challenges and share opportunities for job seekers, students, recent graduates, talent recruiters and human resources professionals.

With sustainability and workforce development two big themes at SEMICON West 2022, Françoise von Trapp of 3D InCites spoke with Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO; Shari Liss, Executive Director of the SEMI Foundation; and Mousumi Bhat, Vice President of SEMI Sustainability Programs. Listen in.

ISS Europe 2022 featured a new program and event format with industry insights and strategic topics condensed into one day of programming on 3 critical challenges facing the microelectronics industry: the energy crisis and sustainability, supply chain disruptions, and the talent pipeline shortage.

Alternative career paths are more important today than ever before, particularly in the semiconductor industry, where an aging workforce and a host of new fabs under construction threaten to worsen the existing talent shortage. The industry faces a multifaceted challenge in the coming years– people.

Tech companies celebrate Pride in different ways, from diversity, equity, and inclusion Movie Clubs to Pride-focused trivia games and educational events. This type of company-wide celebration and recognition is important, because LGBT+ people face significant challenges in the workplace.

The theme of the 6th annual Women in Semiconductors (WiS) program, held in conjunction with ASMC 2022, was inclusion, mentorship, and networking. The presentations at this year’s program were authentic and personal, prompting honest dialogue and responses from attendees.

A 2018 longitudinal study of SEMI's High Tech U participants showed the program’s deep influence: 82% of SEMI HTU graduates followed a path to higher education, 78% completed STEM degrees, and 70% reported that the program influenced their choice of field or career.

On February 15, the Science Research and Technology Subcommittee, one of five subcommittees of the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, held a timely hearing to explore semiconductor legislation and the industry’s workforce needs.

On February 4, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act by a vote of 222-210. The bill was introduced on January 25 as the House companion to the Senate’s USICA.