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As the U.S. is building up its semiconductor manufacturing capacity with new plants, most notably the $20 billion new fabrication site announced by Intel on January 21, the worker shortage needs to be addressed as well.
In announcing the new plant the company said that 3,000 jobs will be created by 2025. To support educational efforts to ensure that there are trained workers for these jobs, Intel announced on March 17 that it will invest $100 million over the next ten years to provide education and research collaboration with academic institutions including universities, community colleges and technical education.
“At Intel, we strongly believe that investing in education is necessary to ensure we have the right talent to support our growth and help the U.S. regain leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, said Christy Pambianchi, Intel executive vice president and chief people officer, in a statement. "Our goal is to bring these programs and opportunities to a variety of two-year and four-year colleges, universities, and technical programs, because it is critical that we expand and diversify STEM education. Intel is committed to preparing America’s workforce with the technology skills needed now and into the future.”
In Ohio, where the plants will be located, Intel will invest $50 million directly in Ohio higher education institutions, over the next ten years with part of the funds going to create the Intel Semiconductor Education and Research Program for Ohio.
An additional $50 million will be matched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which will be asking for proposals from educators for a curriculum that aims to improve STEM education at two-year colleges and four-year universities. They are also asking for research that advances semiconductor design and manufacturing.
