2 min read January 2024 —The United States push to bolster its advanced manufacturing ecosystem has landed Phoenix as a critical site for investment and workforce training.
Last Thursday, the Biden administration announced a $5 million private sector commitment for a new apprenticeship program to develop a pipeline of semiconductor technicians in addition to $5 million in funding from philanthropic organizations to provide 1,500 Arizonans with support to gain in-demand jobs in microelectronics and related fields.
Designated as one of the country’s “Workforce Hubs,” Phoenix is leveraging partnerships between industry partners and higher education institutions such as Arizona State University (ASU) and Maricopa Community College to build appropriate talent pipelines in the advanced manufacturing industry.
“Phoenix has emerged as a hub of microelectronics innovation, and at ASU we are involved in many inclusive excellence initiatives to increase participation not just in the microelectronics industry, but in science and engineering more broadly,” said Kyle Squires, ASU senior vice provost for engineering, computing and technology and dean of the Fulton Schools, as cited in the university news portal.
While investment has flowed to chip manufacturing due in large part to the US CHIPS for America Act, which provides $52 billion in grants for research on semiconductor manufacturing, talent shortages could impact the effectiveness of industry investment. According to a McKinsey & Company report, companies across industries are estimated to face “a shortfall of 300,000 engineers and 90,000 skilled technicians by 2030.”
In December 2023, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council (AZBTC) formed a framework for workforce training and development to ensure a prepared pipeline of talent and address concerns raised over staffing and workplace safety, according to Phoenix Business Journal.
In the advanced manufacturing space, companies across Arizona’s sprawling communities are also finding new ways to collaborate and accelerate their development roadmaps. On January 25, Intel and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) announced their joint development of a 12-nanometer semiconductor process platform that gives global customers in sectors such as mobile, communications, infrastructure and networking greater choice pertaining to sourcing decisions along a diversified supply chain.
The work will be carried out at Intel’s two new chip factories, Fab 52 and Fab 53, currently under construction at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler. The $52 billion project investment is considered the largest private-sector investment in state history.
Stuart Pann, Intel senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), said the latest collaboration with UMC signals “another important step toward our goal of becoming the world’s second-largest foundry by 2030.”
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