Chip worker shortage puts U.S. semiconductor boom on the brink - Los Angeles Times

The U.S. semiconductor industry is facing a critical shortage of high-skilled workers, threatening to delay billions of dollars in new chip plant investments. According to a report by McKinsey & Co., ... Read original →

The U.S. semiconductor reshoring agenda is hitting a hard ceiling: a critical shortage of process engineers capable of operating 3nm and EUV lines. This talent gap directly jeopardizes the ramp timelines of multi-billion-dollar fabs by TSMC (Taiwan, China), Intel, and Samsung, delaying domestic AI chip supply chains. With only 3% of engineering grads entering manufacturing—lured instead by software salaries—the U.S. faces a structural mismatch no federal subsidy alone can fix. Without rapid industry-academia alignment within 12 months, CHIPS Act funding risks yielding 'ghost fabs' with idle tools. Competitors in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, China will likely consolidate advanced-node leadership, while U.S. firms outsource more mature nodes offshore. Over the next 24 months, workforce constraints—not just export controls—will emerge as the stealthiest yet most acute vulnerability in global semiconductor supply security.