7


Workforce Development in the Semiconductor Industry

The committee’s statement of task first requests the committee to examine workforce development issues related to semiconductors in the first question, where it requires a review of “barriers” to “sustainable and resilient production of semiconductors.” Workforce availability is a leading barrier. In the second question, the committee is asked to review “public–private partnership strategies” that address a series of issues, including “workforce development.” In the third question, the committee is asked to review unique “advantages and challenges” for the Department of Defense (DoD) in approaching additional factors, including “workforce development.” In summary, the statement of task requests an examination of workforce development from three perspectives: the extent, first, that it constitutes a “barrier” to a successful semiconductor production approach; second, how a public–private partnership (PPP) approach could enable a workforce development strategy; and third, what challenges and advantages DoD faces in pursuing a PPP effort for workforce development.

There are two parts to the issues around workforce development in the semiconductor sector: needs that can be met through reforms to higher education for scientists and engineers for semiconductor research, development, and fabrication, and needs that require reforms in workforce education for the technical workforce at semiconductor facilities. Each is addressed below, preceded by a discussion of projected semiconductor sector employment needs and followed by a discussion of DoD’s potential role in such reforms. This chapter closes with a discussion of the improving access to foreign-born scientists and engineers.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GAPS IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR SECTOR

The United States faces an overall talent gap in its technical workforce of which the gap in semiconductor fields is one part. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection data, a study by the Semiconductor Industry Association and Oxford Economics projects rapidly growing demand in U.S. jobs requiring proficiency in technical fields with these jobs more than doubling within this decade. The study projects that by 2030 there will be a gap of more than 100,000 technicians, more than 270,000 engineers, and approximately 1 million computer scientists in filling jobs across all advanced technology industries in the United States.¹ This derives from a problem of insufficient numbers of U.S. students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This is exacerbated by the fact that many STEM majors pursue nontechnical occupations outside STEM fields. Offsetting these problems, U.S. higher education institutions attract significant numbers of STEM students from abroad, particularly at the graduate level, including 50 percent of master’s engineering graduates and 60 percent of engineering PhD graduates.² However, some 80 percent of international master’s STEM students leave the United States, as do 25 percent of the STEM PhDs. These overall problems in the U.S. STEM talent pool means trouble for the semiconductor talent pool.

The semiconductor industry in 2023 directly employs, according to industry data, approximately 345,000 in the United States, including 206,000 in manufacturing semiconductor chips, 30,000 in semiconductor machinery manufacturing, 100,000 in design, and 9,000 in developing the specialized tools used in design.³ Three-quarters of this total is in technical work, the remainder in supporting roles (management, administrative, sales, logistics, etc.). This technical workforce falls into three broad categories: semiconductor technicians, who operate and maintain equipment used in making semiconductor chips and components; semiconductor engineers, who research, develop, and design, or improve semiconductor devices and fabrication processes; and semiconductor computer scientists, who design and develop software and hardware for semiconductor systems and technologies primarily within the chip design area. Shortfalls are projected in each of these three fields.⁴

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¹ Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Oxford Economics, 2023, Chipping Away, Assessing and Addressing the Labor Market Gap Facing the U.S. Semiconductor Industry, July 10, https://www.semiconductors.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SIA_July2023_ChippingAway_website.pdf.

² SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, pp. 9–10.

³ See SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, p. 11. These totals are for the direct semiconductor workforce, not for indirect positions in the supply chain. If such indirect employment is considered, the direct and indirect workforce is approximately 1.9 million.

⁴ SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, p. 12.

An analysis by McKinsey projects that the U.S. semiconductor industry output will grow significantly, with revenues growing from the current $575 billion to $1 trillion by 2030.⁵ Given this projected growth, analysts project that there will be job openings for 134,300 technicians (both new jobs and replacements for workers retiring or leaving), 69,000 engineers, and 34,500 computer scientists.⁶ In turn, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, the analysis predicts a talent shortfall in filling these positions of 67,000, or 58 percent of the new jobs across semiconductor manufacturing and design. This includes 13,400 computer scientists, 27,300 engineers (at PhD, master’s, and bachelor’s levels), and 26,400 technicians. The study was completed prior to passage of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (the CHIPS Act) and its corresponding investments, so may understate talent demand in this sector. Furthermore, the semiconductor sector’s talent gaps are only a portion of the overall STEM workforce shortage noted above. A business-as-usual approach to workforce education in the United States is clearly going to be inadequate for meeting the projected need in both STEM-based positions overall and semiconductor sector positions in particular. Change is required, given the level of the problem.

How accurate are these employment projections, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau and industry data? No projections 6 years ahead can be fully accurate. The semiconductor industry often experiences up-and-down cycles; most recently, chip sales went into a slump in 2023 after record levels in 2021 and 2022. However, given the increasing pervasiveness of chips in products throughout the economy, the corresponding projected industry revenue, and the major capital investments stimulated in the United States from the CHIPS Act, totaling more than $200 billion as of the end of 2022,⁷ the longer-term projections appear to be plausible.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

A major part of industry’s projected gap in the semiconductor sector, as noted, is for computer scientists (13,400) and semiconductor engineers (27,300, including 5,100 PhDs, 12,300 master’s, and 9,900 bachelor’s degree holders). These categories require higher education.⁸

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⁵ O. Burkacky, J. Dragon, and N. Lehmann, 2022, “The Semiconductor Decade: A Trillion-Dollar Industry,” McKinsey & Company, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/semiconductors/our-insights/the-semiconductor-decade-a-trillion-dollar-industry.

⁶ SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, p. 14.

⁷ R. Casanova, 2022, “The CHIPS Act Has Already Sparked $200 Billion in Private Investments for U.S. Semiconductor Production,” SIA, December 14, https://www.semiconductors.org/the-chips-act-has-already-sparked-200-billion-in-private-investments-for-u-s-semiconductor-production.

⁸ SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, p. 4.

Although it is a worldwide trend, undergraduate enrollment in the physical sciences and engineering has been in decline in the United States in favor of majors such as computer science. The semiconductor sector requires both. Bachelor’s degrees awarded by U.S. higher education institutions in academic year 2020–2021 for computer science majors totaled 104,874, while physical science majors totaled 29,238 and mathematics majors totaled 89,398.⁹ Bachelor’s degree numbers in turn drive the numbers for follow-on graduate degrees. Although computer science degrees are rising, they are still only 4 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded.¹⁰

BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES FOR PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE EDUCATION

While computer science enrollments have been growing in recent years, the curriculum is usually focused on software and typically does not include semiconductor design or fabrication. This means that computer science graduates have no preparation (and therefore may have no particular interest) in working in the semiconductor hardware sector.

Borivoje Nikolić and colleagues at University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) provide an example of a targeted effort to try to overcome this problem.¹¹ They offer a hardware-focused computer architecture course to sophomores majoring in computer science to attract these majors to hardware. The aim is to get students designing chips in 14 to 15 weeks using a simplified design system they have developed, called Chipyard. Two follow-on hardware design courses are offered, as well as internships with companies, which are crucial to nurturing interest. Chipyard is a design system that includes configurable, open-source, generator-based designs that can be used across multiple hardware development stages, which was initially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and now the National Science Foundation (NSF). This effort requires considerable resources to sustain, with two engineers to maintain it and a system administrator to keep design programs updated, and to manage the licensing for design tools, and provision of the necessary computer infrastructure. Intel has supported the program, and its pilot packaging line is available for the UC Berkeley program to utilize. Carnegie Mellon University has been working on a comparable

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⁹ National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Digest of Education Statistics, Table 322.10, Bachelor’s Degrees by Field of Study, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_322.10.asp?current=yes.

¹⁰ C. Martinez and E. Pearson, 2018, “The Decline of Computer Science: Two Decades of Trends Reshape the Industry, Stepping Blocks Research,” https://blog.steppingblocks.com/the-decline-of-computer-science.

¹¹ B. Nikolic, 2023, “Thoughts on Public–Private Partnerships to Strengthen Semiconductor Design,” presentation to the committee, August 15.

program with Apple, as have several other schools. The key to Chipyard’s success, which has attracted some 300 students to date, according to Professor Nikolić, is to expose students early in their computer science major to hardware and design, coupled with industry internships. To yield the PhD numbers later-on, it is necessary to target undergraduate students. Programs such as these encourage a pool of students to consider semiconductor hardware careers. UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University are not alone; other efforts include those at Rochester Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, and SUNY Albany, which have both design courses and laboratories where students can build what they design.

A group of faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been struggling with the same problem of trying to promote student interest in semiconductor fabrication and design. Their study¹² concluded the following:

There is a distinction between the computer science degrees generally discussed above and computer engineering degrees. While computer science is largely focused now on software and programming, computer engineers couple electrical engineering principles with computer architecture, operating systems, networking, and coding so that they are trained to design, build, and test hardware components and systems. However, computer engineering attracts relatively small numbers of students compared to computer science, and access to up-to-date design software and equipment can be limiting. To address the latter problem, more student engagement with industry (e.g., via industry-informed, project-based learning and internships) would be beneficial, and CHIPS Act program R&D programs, such as the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), could support this.

Today, many semiconductor professionals come from specific science and engineering backgrounds, such as physics, chemistry, and electrical engineering. There is an opportunity for new multidisciplinary science and engineering programs that cover material across various disciplines, such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Such multidisciplinary degrees may assist in

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¹² J.A. del Alamo, D.A. Antoniadis, R.G. Atkins, M.A. Baldo, et al., 2021, “Reasserting U.S. Leadership in Microelectronics—A White Paper on the Role of Universities,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://usmicroelectronics.mit.edu/education-and-workforce-development.

meeting semiconductor talent needs, by tying training programs to fields that are viewed as more topical.

Overall, innovative education approaches will be needed in higher education to create the talent pool required for a strong semiconductor professional workforce, requiring focus by participating universities and support for appropriate personnel and infrastructure.

There are several lessons here. New curriculum offerings are needed in chip hardware and design that can be inserted into both computer science and computer and electrical engineering programs. Online courses could provide a valuable scaling mechanism if used in blended learning settings at universities with hand-on design tools such as UC Berkeley’s Chipyard. Coupling such courses with industry engagement and internships is a vital element. Agreements with industry to fabricate and package student designs is another important element. In general, programs that provide access to up-to-date industry facilities for hands-on experience could be significant for both computer engineering and computer science. New multidisciplinary programs in both computer science and engineering may offer major advantages for nurturing semiconductor sector talent.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES FOR THE TECHNICAL WORKFORCE

Technical workers make up approximately 40 percent of the U.S. semiconductor workforce, with more than 26,000 new technician jobs projected to be required by 2030. Unfortunately, the U.S. workforce education system has many challenges.¹³ The education system is disconnected from the workplace—that is, there is a major school-to-work barrier. The Department of Labor’s training programs do not attain higher technical skills or help incumbent workers acquire them. In turn, the Department of Education’s programs target college, not workforce, education and do not necessarily mesh with Department of Labor programs. The vocational education system was largely dismantled starting in the 1970s on the assumption that everyone would attend college, which did not prove to be the case. Community colleges, which could provide advanced training in emerging fields, are often underfunded, and their degree completion rates—often around one-third—are low, because many students return to the workforce after completing a few courses. Many colleges and universities are not linked to the other participants in the ecosystem. A system for lifelong learning is missing. Strong information systems make for sound markets, but the information system behind the U.S. labor market is weak—employers do not recognize the skills of job applicants, employees do not

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¹³ W.B. Bonvillian and S.E. Sarma, 2021, Workforce Education, A New Roadmap, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 43–58, 238–242.

know what skills employers want, and educators do not know for what skills they should educate. Overall, the existing workforce education system operates at too local and at too small a scale to meet growing national demand.

BEST OVERALL PRACTICES FOR TECHNICAL WORKFORCE EDUCATION

A series of best practices to overcome these problems for the technical workforce in general are emerging for employers, community colleges,¹⁴ and other system actors.

Opportunities for 2-Year Institutions

• Offer short programs. Programs focused on technical skills should typically run for 10 to 20 weeks. Workers with families and existing work obligations do not have the time needed for 2- or 4-year degrees—they need short courses.
• Adopt credentialing. Programs should provide certificates for specific groups of related skills, based on demonstrated competencies. These should be able to be credited (or “stacked”) toward college associate and bachelor’s degrees, which remain the most broadly recognized credentials.
• Leverage online teaching. Online modules will be critical if workforce education is going to scale to meet upcoming demand because it provides new flexibility for today’s students. Online education cannot replace effective in-person instruction or hands-on work with actual equipment, but it can supplement these by conveying foundational information behind the skills and be used for some assessments.
• Support apprenticeships. Programs to break down the work/learn barrier should be linked to industry connecting training to actual workplaces. Community colleges can cooperate with industry on apprenticeships, as well as internships and cooperative programs, that can move students into the workplace so they can earn while building skills. These also enable students to make direct connections between the competencies they must learn and new job opportunities.

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¹⁴ Bonvillian and Sarma, 2021, Workforce Education, pp. 251–255; W.B. Bonvillian, 2021, “America Needs a New Workforce Education System,” Issues in Science and Technology, March 9, https://issues.org/workforce-education-innovation-community-colleges-bonvillain; G. Westerman, W. Bonvillian, Z. Clochard-Bopssuet, L. Amrutha Killada, and J. Liu, 2021, “Benchmarking Phase 1 Report,” in MassBridge: Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Education Program Report, September 24, https://openlearning.mit.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Benchmarking%20Phase%201%20Report%20%28Final%29.pdf; S. Nelson, W.B. Bonvillian, and G. Westerman, 2022, “Community Colleges’ Role in Building Apprenticeships,” in MassBridge: Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Education Program Report, June 30, https://mitili.mit.edu/research/community-colleges-role-building-apprenticeships.

• Embed industry-recognized credentials into educational programs. Many employers want an assurance of skill knowledge that a credential approved and accepted by industry provides. Credentials create an additional and parallel pathway to help students toward employment. They also ensure that academic programs are relevant to actual industry needs.
• Develop working alliances with universities for advanced curricula and online offerings. Universities, working with industry, can help develop curricula in emerging and advanced fields, working with community colleges. Universities can also offer online course development in concert with community colleges.

Opportunities for Industry

• Organize groups of employers. Single employers embarking on workforce education face varying demands over time for workers, which rise and fall with business cycles and orders. They typically cannot sustain the steady flow of students for sustainable education programs. Instead, employers should band together, including large companies and suppliers, to create and communicate a steady demand signal required for sustainable education efforts.
• Ally with community colleges. Groups of employers in turn should create alliances with area community colleges for the stable and sustainable skills development programs that both employers and community colleges require. They should work with community colleges to adopt the approaches listed above, as well as to help develop and implement curricula, including in advanced areas, that companies require.
• Promote apprenticeships. Employers are central to apprenticeship programs (as well as to paid internships and cooperative programs), which can help employers find the workers with the skills they want. Alliances with community colleges on apprenticeships can assure continuity between the on-the-job training and education programs.

These general practices could be applied for semiconductor employers and community colleges in their regions to improve semiconductor technical workforce development.

EXAMPLES OF BEST PRACTICES IN SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNICAL WORKFORCE EDUCATION

These best practices for workforce education at the technical level are highly applicable to the semiconductor sector. There have been recent examples in the semiconductor field of attempts to pursue some of these practices.

The Quick Start Program in Arizona

Arizona is host to six Intel fabrication plants (fabs), including two new ones under construction that will manufacture its most advanced chips and require 3,000 new workers. TSMC is building two fabs in Arizona to produce its 3 and 5 nm chips and expects to employ 4,500 workers. A workforce education challenge faces both companies in Arizona, and the campuses in the Maricopa Community Colleges system will play a role in meeting it. One of those campuses, Mesa, has formed an Arizona Advanced Manufacturing Institute that offers onsite employer recruitment and internships and apprenticeships, a career navigator system for career planning, and industry certifications embedded into its courses.¹⁵ It is particularly focused on the rapidly growing semiconductor sector.

Mesa and two other Maricopa community colleges have developed a “quick start” 10-day program designed with industry to introduce students to semiconductor sector manufacturing careers (a branch of the program also serves the aerospace industry).¹⁶ The program is highly accelerated and features adjunct expert faculty from Intel teaching basic hands-on skills, The college has acquired $1.2 million in equipment and supplies for students to work with. Students earn a certificate that qualifies them for entry level positions, and the college hosts frequent hiring fairs with industry. Students receive a $270 stipend at the end of the program to offset their costs in attending. As of October 2023, 712 students had completed certificates from the program, 65 percent were students of color and 32 percent female, 44 percent were ages 18 to 29 (most of the older workers were already in the workforce), and half were first-generation immigrants. The institute also offers a follow-on Automated Industrial Technology (AIT) program, with AIT industry certification and associate degree credit. These longer programs qualify students in areas such as robotics, power electronics, and modern maintenance. Sixty-two of the students who completed the quick-start program have returned for this additional course work.

The community colleges are working to develop better data on industry employment and retention, but an initial survey indicates that 31 percent of those who have completed the program have found semiconductor sector jobs.¹⁷ Why are the hiring numbers not higher? Construction delays have pushed out the completion

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¹⁵ Mesa Community College, a Maricopa Community College, Arizona Advanced Manufacturing Institute, https://www.mesacc.edu/workforce-development/azami.

¹⁶ L. Palmer, 2023, “Partnerships—Building a Pipeline for Scope and Scale,” presentation to the committee, October 24. See also, Maricopa Community Colleges, quick start semiconductor program, https://info.maricopacorporate.com/semiconductor. The program is given at three Maricopa system community colleges, Chandler-Gilber, Estrella Mountain, and Mesa Community Colleges.

¹⁷ J. Zinkula, 2024 “The Chip Industry’s False Promise,” January 9, https://www.businessinsider.com/semiconductor-chips-jobs-hiring-arizona-tech-phoenix-tsmc-intel-china-2024–1.

times for the new semiconductor fabs, and the industry is going through a downturn after expansion in 2022. However, a quick-start, intensive, short course with hands-on experience with industry still appears to offer a model that could help attract new students to semiconductor work when demand picks up.

Community College Collaboration in Ohio

Intel is building two new fabs in Ohio that will employ 3,000 people in the Columbus area and has been closely collaborating with community colleges as well as state universities to develop a workforce in a region that has not had prior semiconductor employment. Intel expects that at least 3,000 supplier jobs will develop as well.¹⁸ Aside from constructing the new fabs, Intel has committed $100 million in Ohio, which has been matched by $50 million from NSF, for scholarships and education development. Intel developed a five-part program for workforce development, including curriculum development, faculty training, laboratory equipment, research programs on chip fabrication, and hands-on experience for students.

While Ohio’s community colleges are independent, they have a history of cooperation. Working with the Ohio Association of Community Colleges and its member schools, Intel has helped develop a 1-year semiconductor certificate program, with five of the community colleges getting ready to launch this curriculum. Eleven schools plan to offer the program. The curriculum development effort was supported by Intel through a series of projects, with seven different Ohio institutions leading each, including Ohio State University and Lorain County Community College, one of the nation’s leading community colleges, which is leading the “train the trainers” program to educate new faculty for the certificate program. These seven technology center projects were competitively awarded based on requests for proposals and have received $17.7 million in Intel funding through 2023.¹⁹

The new certificate will offer credit toward degrees as well as an industry certification recognized by Intel. Students completing the new certificate will be eligible for entry positions at the Intel fabs. Intel is making training tools to help ready the faculty in specific semiconductor skills; it will also take new faculty to its Arizona fabs to learn its equipment and work environment. Fab-sized equipment is not part of the program, because it would be too expensive for the schools to operate and maintain, but Intel is providing laboratory-scale equipment for training. Online education is part of the curriculum approach, using videos with blended

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¹⁸ S. Venkataramani, 2023, presentation to the committee, November 28.

¹⁹ Intel, 2023, “Intel Invests in Ohio Education,” Intel, September 24, https://download.intel.com/newsroom/2023/corporate/OH-Workforce-fact-sheet.pdf.

learning. Intel is also working with the schools to develop summer programs with hands-on training opportunities. It is also considering apprenticeship programs in cooperation with the participating Ohio schools, a number of which already have extensive “earn and learn” programs for students. Intel expects to train thousands of students through the program over the next 3 years.

To summarize, Intel, working closely with Ohio community colleges and universities, has incorporated many of the best practices listed above. The collaborative effort between the Ohio community colleges, universities, and Intel suggests how major workforce education programs at the technician level can be effectively organized. Overall, both examples show the importance of close collaboration between industry and community colleges in developing semiconductor technical workforce education. And co-location with industry of hands-on education can be particularly constructive.

MECHANISMS FOR SUPPORT OF WORKFORCE EDUCATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO CONSIDER

There is a series of possible mechanisms for DoD to potentially work through concerning workforce development for technician and scientist or engineer levels for the semiconductor sector. One is the network of Manufacturing USA advanced manufacturing institutes. DoD’s ManTech program has provided funding support for eight of those institutes, and up to three new institutes in semiconductor fields were approved following the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (the CHIPS Act), sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). All such institutes have workforce education projects as part of their core mission, aimed primarily at bringing advanced manufacturing skills to the technical workforce.²⁰ DoD’s Industrial Base and Sustainability (IBAS) program also supports workforce development for DoD’s nearer-term industrial base needs, including a program to support development of a new workforce category of “technologist” to move talented technical workers into positions managing the new advanced manufacturing systems starting to be implemented in U.S. factories.²¹ In addition, NSTC, supported by NIST and the Microelectronics Commons (ME Commons), formed by DoD (both discussed earlier in this report), also provide potential support mechanisms for workforce education efforts particularly at the scientist and engineering level. Finally, NSF has funding under the CHIPS Act for semiconductor education programs.

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²⁰ W.B. Bonvillian, 2022, “The Playbook, for Workforce Education at Manufacturing Innovation Institutes,” Report for DoD Manufacturing Technology Program, January.

²¹ J. Liu and W.B. Bonvillian, 2024, “The Technologist,” Issues in Science and Technology, Winter, https://issues.org/issue/40-2.

NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has long-led efforts for development of advanced technology curricula and education programs at community colleges.²²

For example, the advanced manufacturing institutes and the ME Commons supported by DoD might play important roles. Programs should support both the development and scaling of semiconductor training, to include the following: short programs, credentialing, online education, apprenticeships, and industry-recognized credentials. Efforts to coordinate groups of employers in support of workforce development, building alliances with community colleges, and promoting apprenticeships would be beneficial. PPPs at regional and local levels might be utilized to develop needed collaborations between semiconductor firms and suppliers, universities and community colleges, and state and local governments. DoD should be an active promoter and participant in these diverse activities.

ACCESS TO FOREIGN-BORN SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

The United States has historically relied on attracting foreign-born science and engineering talent to meet its workforce needs at the professional level. As noted above, 50 percent of master’s engineering graduates and 60 percent of engineering PhD graduates at U.S. universities are from abroad.²³ However, as noted, some 80

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²² See, for example, concerning ATE’s programs, NSF, Advanced Technological Education (ATE), Program Solicitation NSF 21-598, October 14, 2021, through October 5, 2023, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2021/nsf21598/nsf21598.htm.

²³ SIA and Oxford, 2023, Chipping Away, pp. 9–10.

percent of international master’s STEM students leave the United States, as do 25 percent of the STEM PhDs. Retaining more of these graduates could help significantly in meeting workforce needs in the semiconductor sector.

The immigration system limits the ability to access and retain outstanding foreign science and engineering talent trained in semiconductor fields. This situation calls out for improvement. In 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) made modest changes in its guidance for two visa categories available for STEM workers.²⁴ There were changes in O-1A temporary visa for “aliens of extraordinary ability” that can pave the way for “green cards” to be issued, to allow lawful permanent residence and work in the United States without full citizenship. There were also changes in the EB-2 employment visa that allows green cards for those with advanced STEM degrees. As a result, in 2022, O-1A visas increased by 30 percent to 4,570, and STEM EB-2 visas increased in 2022 by 55 percent over 2021 levels to 70,240. Those higher levels continued in 2023. However, a 1990 law still allows only 140,000 employment-based green cards to be allowed each year, with no more than 7 percent to the citizens of any particular country.

As recommended in 2022 by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), premium processing of petitions for advanced-degree immigrants seeking to work in microelectronics, through available statutes and regulations, could help with some of this concern.²⁵ Legislation is needed to revise the immigration laws to reflect the reality of technology needs, including that country of origin should not matter when immigrants are selected based on their skills and education, and enabling an accelerated path to citizenship. Meanwhile, without such comprehensive reform, an intermediate step is to award lawful permanent resident status for those with advanced STEM degrees under current law outside of the country or worldwide numerical caps, for individuals working in semiconductor and other advanced technology areas. DoD could encourage USCIS to prioritize such approaches, given the importance of semiconductors and other advanced technologies to national security.

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²⁴ J. Mervis, 2023, “New U.S. Immigration Rules Spur More Visa Approvals for STEM Workers,” Science December 27, https://www.science.org/content/article/new-u-s-immigration-rules-spur-more-visa-approvals-stem-workers.

²⁵ President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), 2022, “Report to the President on Revitalizing the Semiconductor Ecosystem,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PCAST_Semiconductors-Report_Sep2022.pdf.