Purdue University Races To Expand Semiconductor Education To Fill Yawning Workforce Gap That Threatens Reshoring Effort

An anonymous reader shares a report: On a recent afternoon, an unusual group of visitors peered through a window at Purdue University students tinkering in a lab: two dozen executives from the world's biggest semiconductor companies. The tech leaders had traveled to the small-town campus on the Wabash River to fix one of the biggest problems that they -- and the U.S. economy -- face: a desperate shortage of engineers. Leading the visitors on a tour of the high-tech lab, Engineering Professor Zhihong Chen mentioned that Purdue could really use some donated chip-making equipment as it scrambles to expand semiconductor education. "Okay, done. We can do that," Intel manufacturing chief Keyvan Esfarjani quickly replied. Just weeks before, his company broke ground on two massive chip factories in Ohio that aim to employ 3,000 people. Computer chips are the brains that power all modern electronics, from smartphones to fighter jets. The United States used to build a lot of them but now largely depends on Asian manufacturers, a reliance that the Biden administration sees as a major economic and national security risk. Hefty new government subsidies aimed at reshoring manufacturing are sparking a construction boom of new chip factories, but a dire shortage of engineers threatens the ambitious project. By some estimates, the United States needs at least 50,000 new semiconductor engineers over the next five years to staff all of the new factories and research labs that companies have said they plan to build with subsidies from the Chips and Science Act, a number far exceeding current graduation rates nationwide, according to Purdue. Additionally, legions of engineers in other specialties will be needed to deliver on other White House priorities, including the retooling of auto manufacturing for electric vehicles and the production of technology aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.