Albany Business Review - Opinion
Kevin Owens, President and CEO, NYSTEC
Oct 20, 2022
New York state has the potential to create a flourishing semiconductor hub.
Micron (NASDAQ: MU) recently announced it would invest $100 billion into the building of a semiconductor factory in Clay, New York. Located just north of Syracuse, projections include the creation of an estimated 50,000 new jobs by the end of the decade.
Additionally, President Biden visited the Hudson Valley region praising IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) new $20 billion investment in mainframe chip fabrication as well as in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. These are promising developments for the state as it continues to expand its technology sector and bring growth to the region.
One aspect hampering the industry is the current lack of home grown talent. If worker training programs do not populate soon, existing companies and eventually Micron will have a hard time overcoming the scarcity to fill these very technical positions.
Quickly meeting the demands of Micron, as well as companies who may follow, is an investment New York should be working toward. Our country’s economic future and national security depend on having an integrated circuit supply chain that is the world’s most secure and innovative.
The most promising federal-level development in this space was the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act which has made the chip development process a matter of national importance. The September report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology proposes how to make the best use of the historic $11 billion commitment. One of the top recommendations is enhancing education to expand the future workforce and creating a national training network to help do it. Another is to provide academic researchers with financial support and essential access to state-of-the-art prototyping tools and facilities.
Investments like Micron and IBM represent real opportunities for New York businesses and organizations positioned to champion the needed workforce development component. Several efforts have already begun to address this shortfall by implementing workforce development programs at local universities, including affordable community colleges. Most recently, NYDesign, a nonprofit in upstate New York, partnered with colleges and companies to provide students with the skills and tools necessary for them to design, fabricate and verify their own integrated circuits. These types of initiatives can help bring about a semiconductor resurgence in the state and develop a workforce needed for New York to be a successful semiconductor hub.
We’ve seen promises from large corporations moving into New York in the past where jobs were promised but the workforce couldn't be developed at a pace capable of supporting it. We can prevent that from happening again if we can understand and prepare for it by creating a talented workforce. Currently, New York is one of the top states for available semiconductor processor positions and the conditions that attract them should be expanded and built upon.
New York will need to rely on organizations that are ready to support a broad array of public-private and academic partnerships geared toward industry-connected innovation and commercialization projects. By doing so, New York can continue to attract high-profile investment and create growth in high- technology jobs with companies like Micron and IBM, as well as support existing semiconductor manufacturing and design companies like GlobalFoundries.
New York is already home to a broad array of semiconductor manufacturing, research and assembly, testing and packaging capabilities. A highly skilled workforce has been the key element in short supply. New York can and should nourish and expand a complete semiconductor industry ecosystem and by doing so will make it an attractive location for more design centers and additional investment. New York state is well-positioned to be that hub for talent and innovation in integrated chip design. We need to rise to the challenge, but it won’t happen by itself.
Kevin Owens is the president and CEO of NYSTEC and a founding board member of NYDesign.
Read the full article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2022/10/20/kevin-owens-nystec-semiconductor-workforce.html