Gov. Katie Hobbs announced a new workforce development program Thursday morning, as part of the Future48 Workforce Accelerators which began in 2023.
This new program, announced by the state and the Maricopa Community Colleges, will provide a customized curriculum for students looking to gain firsthand experience in semiconductor manufacturing, an industry which has boomed in the U.S. in recent years.
MCC Governing Board President Susan Bitter Smith said this is a result of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act:
”The Chips and Science Act of 2022 provided $280 billion to the U.S. semiconductor industry, which has created good paying jobs across the nation,” she said. “Arizona has emerged as a major hub for semiconductor manufacturing due to the Valley’s skilled workforce, tax credits, training programs and land development opportunities.”
Arizona, which was already home to Intel, has since emerged as a hub for the industry, with other chip manufacturers - like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — building new facilities in the state.
TSMC currently produces a significant portion of the world’s semiconductors, including about 90% of the most advanced chips.
The company’s Arizona location is expected to begin full production at its first fabrication facility in the first half of 2025, with more fabs under construction.
Smith said Arizona already has a strong semiconductor industry:
”Semiconductors are Arizona’s second-ranked export, which is, I think, a new phenomenon and very exciting,” she said, “and at $3.5 billion, we are the second-strongest semiconductor hub in the United States.”
This is why MCC’s Chancellor Steven Gonzales said workforce development programs like this one are needed in the state:
”Arizona will continue to be a hub for innovation, furthering the demand for a skilled workforce,” he said. “We know that by 2030 the semiconductor industry’s workforce will grow by nearly 115,000 jobs.”
In addition to the customized curriculum for students, the program will also feature a mock cleanroom — modern computer chips require atomic-level accuracy because of how many billions of individual transistors are on each chip, and even a single speck of dust could damage chips during the various manufacturing processes.
This program is the fifth out of six Future48 Workforce Accelerators to be announced. Others have been launched with community colleges across the state of Arizona.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct TSMC's share of global production and their locations.
