US chip fabs face massive 157,000 worker shortfall, mere 3% of US engineering grads enter chipmaking — despite six-figure salaries, US chip manufacturers are in dire need of engineers and technicians
As many semiconductor fabs and facilities go online in the 2030s and beyond, a global consulting firm said that these sites will need thousands of engineers and technicians that the U.S. will be hard-pressed to fill.
The United States faces a severe shortage of skilled workers to operate its advanced chip factories, posing a significant hurdle to domestic chip manufacturing growth, despite soaring salaries. McKinsey and SEMI Foundation predict up to 157,000 unfilled positions in the industry by 2030. Samsung's EVP Jon Taylor expressed concern over the insufficient pipeline of technical professionals, noting that only 3% of U.S. engineering graduates find careers in the semiconductor sector.
73% of chip firms struggle to fill engineering roles, a stark contrast to other tech industries experiencing record layoffs. While the demand for memory and storage chips surges due to the AI boom, and Washington pushes for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., factories like TSMC's Arizona campus and Intel's Ohio One plant are being constructed.
Major memory makers like Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix are also expanding in the U.S., with Samsung's Texas fab targeting 3,500 new jobs. Despite the competitive salaries ranging from $127,000 to $187,000, these offerings fall short compared to lucrative bonuses in South Korea.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
