Biden rushes to avert labor shortage with CHIPS act funding for workers

Enlarge / US President Joe Biden (C) speaks during a tour of the TSMC Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 6, 2022. (credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Contributor | AFP)

In the hopes of dodging a significant projected worker shortage in the next few years, the Biden administration will finally start funding workforce development projects to support America’s ambitions to become the world’s leading chipmaker through historic CHIPS and Science Act investments.

The Workforce Partner Alliance (WFPA) will be established through the CHIPS Act’s first round of funding focused on workers, officials confirmed in a press release. The program is designed to “focus on closing workforce and skills gaps in the US for researchers, engineers, and technicians across semiconductor design, manufacturing, and production,” a program requirements page said.

Bloomberg reported that the US risks a technician shortage reaching 90,000 by 2030. This differs slightly from Natcast’s forecast, which found that out of “238,000 jobs the industry is projected to create by 2030,” the semiconductor industry “will be unable to fill more than 67,000.”