STEM

Over the next five years the Taiwan government plans to invest NT$1.546 billion to build the workforce direly needed for future semiconductor industry research and development. The largesse is a tribute to efforts by SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha to enhance the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry by stressing the importance of talent development during his annual visits with the Taiwan president. He has been instrumental in bringing together Taiwan government agencies and local industry representatives – two players in developing the talent pool of the future – to discuss workforce initiatives.As the talent gaps threatens to choke the long-term growth potential of the chip industry, Manocha has emerged as a passionate champion of workforce development. In a letter to more than 2,000 semiconductor companies worldwide, he urged to executives act together to build the workforce vital to industry growth. In 2018, he met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss ideas for attracting and retaining skilled workers to help ensure Taiwan remains a top investment destination for high-tech multinationals.In early 2019, SEMI Taiwan established its SEMI Taiwan Workforce Development Council to promote talent and career development. Already, the group’s work is resonating in the global semiconductor industry. In September last year, Manocha joined executives from industry heavyweights ASE, MediaTek and TSMC in a visit to President Tsai to urge the government to pursue industry sustainability through talent development. President Tsai responded by instructing her staff to review government resources available for talent development, help drive public-private dialogue and partnerships, and form talent development projects involving the government, industry, academia and research institutes.To carry out comprehensive workforce initiatives, SEMI Taiwan continues to work with the National Security Council and the Executive Yuan (the cabinet). We also launched the Semiconductor Industry Development Council in partnership with leading high-tech companies in Taiwan including ASE, TSMC, MediaTek, PSMC, VIS, MXIC, Nanya, Etron and UMC. Focused on developing semiconductor talent and technology, localizing equipment sourcing, and improving cybersecurity, the council has formed the following seven initiatives: Make existing government talent development programs more flexible to better meet the industry’s workforce needs. Recruit outstanding scholars and leading experts in scientific research, and solicit world-class scientific research teams. Extend age restrictions and other requirements for the Einstein Program (established by the Taiwan MOST, Ministry of Science and Technology) to attract outstanding foreign scholars to Taiwan. Establish a domestic semiconductor research ecosystem and provide sufficient research funding to cultivate R D talent. Strengthen female education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and encourage women to re-join the workforce to help meet the industry’s workforce needs. Continue to promote MOST University-Industry Collaboration Projects (Large Alliance) to connect the upstream academic and research sector with downstream industries. Encourage cooperation between science and technology universities and the chip industry to develop the talent necessary for smart manufacturing to thrive. SEMI’s advocacy efforts with the Taiwan government, the industry and academia are clearly paying off. The Executive Yuan recently announced three major talent development strategies – expanding the talent development capabilities of higher education institutions, promoting industrial-academic cooperation and encouraging businesses to strengthen recruiting efforts and increase funding for semiconductor talent development.The building momentum includes plans by the Taiwan Ministry of Education plans to establish semiconductor technology research centers at several national universities. By passing the sandbox law and loosening regulations organizational personnel, finance and education, the government is freeing up more funding to support semiconductor industry talent development. The ministry also plans to gradually expand the number of students enrolled in STEM curriculum and continues to promote talent training programs and recruiting strategies to help close the workforce gaps and reduce related industry risks. A highly skilled workforce is indispensable to the development of the semiconductor industry and among the most strategic resources in any region. It’s only through long-term partnerships between the government, industry and academia that impactful and sustainable workforce development goals and initiatives can be developed to help the chip industry realize its full potential to innovate and solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. The programs are key to the ability of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to sharpen its competitive edge. More importantly, they are also the center of gravity in the region’s pursuit of its position as the global semiconductor hub. Jo-Ann Su is senior director and Winnie Chang is marketing and public relations specialist at SEMI Taiwan.

As the semiconductor industry continues to grapple with the widespread effects of the COVID pandemic, at the SEMI Foundation we continue to build programs and initiatives that inspire the next generation of STEM workers and drive new and diverse talent to all of our member companies.Our work to build out the semiconductor workforce centers on creating more diversity, equity, and inclusion within the industry. We want everyone to win. We want students and workers to benefit from these excellent jobs. We want our industry to diversify to increase our productivity, innovation, and our bottom lines. And we want to fulfill the extraordinary potential of electronics to help people around the world in the way they work and live. COVID-19 is hitting certain populations – women, veterans, and Black, Indigenous and other people of color – particularly hard, so our work has never been more timely or important for local communities and the global economy.To that end, we’re going big by generating funding and designing initiatives that will benefit the industry over the long term. The SEMI Foundation’s SEMI VetWorks Program, currently in development, will help U.S. veterans better understand our industry, the careers available to them, and how their skills will transfer to working in microelectronics. The program also provides training portals and mentorship support to smooth their transition to the industry.We’re also working to fund our Women In Industry Network, a major new initiative designed with national partners to significantly increase the representation of women, who today account for just 10-25% of the semiconductor workforce across all roles and functions. What’s more, the SEMI Foundation’s global industry image and awareness campaign is inspiring more young people to enter high-school and university STEM programs and ultimately pursue careers in microelectronics while encouraging current workers to re-skill or up-skill and join the tech workforce.Meanwhile, your High Tech U team continues to connect semiconductor companies with students all over the globe. While we’re eager to get back on the road to meet and inspire students in person, we are excited to provide updates about two of our programs:HTU in the ClassroomWith the transition to online and hybrid learning classrooms, we seized the opportunity to combine STEM activities from SEMI High Tech U with discussion sessions and other projects to help students explore and deepen their understanding of the semiconductor manufacturing process. The 16-week pilot program, called HTU in the Classroom, will launch late next year to introduce high-school students to four key areas of chip production: patterning and layering, the chemistry involved in photolithography, logic gate systems, and computational thinking. These interviews with SEMI member companies will give students a chance to share their new knowledge gained from the class and to ask questions about what life is really like as an engineer, HR professional, or manager in industry.From Sand to SiliconWith silicon the lifeblood of our industry, it is impossible to understand what makes the semiconductor/microelectronics industry tick without knowing more about the companies, processes and technologies that all make it possible. That’s why we are developing a self-guided online journey through the chip manufacturing process for students and educators. This will go beyond reading like a Wikipedia site. Instead, the learning and exploration will feature interactive elements including company videos and links to resources such as fact sheets as well as university and company websites. At each stage, students will get details about the companies and individuals who do the work and the paths the professionals followed to these roles. The big-picture look will show how all the production stages come together to build working devices that power everything from smartphones to data centers.The SEMI Foundation is grateful for your support and partnership as we all work through these unprecedented times and roll out new programs to help build the talent pipeline. To learn more about or support our workforce development programs, please contact Shari Liss, SEMI Foundation’s Executive Director, at [email protected].

Gursharan Singh, Micron’s senior vice president of Global Assembly and Test, spoke with us about the progress of Micron’s new facility in Penang, the company’s smart manufacturing advancements, its ongoing initiatives to hire and develop talent, and its support of the greater Malaysian community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Micron to Open Center of Excellence in PenangMicron’s 52.6-acre Center of Excellence for SSD assembly and test in Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang is slated to open in early 2021. Micron is investing RM1.5 billion over the next five years and has committed to adding 1,000 team members.“In parallel to the building’s construction, we have built a temporary site in Seberang Prai where nearly 1,000 of our team members have already set up the production line for SSD,” Singh said. “Once the new plant is ready, this operation will be moved to Batu Kawan, giving us the advantage to ramp up production and hit the ground running without the lag of waiting for the operationalization of a new facility.”Malaysia to Gain From Micron’s Global Manufacturing NetworkMicron’s commitment to Malaysia extends beyond business investments. As an industry powerhouse, Micron’s Malaysia operations will tap into its global expertise and best practices.“Malaysia is in a unique position to benefit due to its close proximity with our NAND Center of Excellence in Singapore,” Singh said. “We are learning from our factory in Singapore, which implements the latest advances in smart manufacturing, as we develop the facility in Batu Kawan. Those lessons will be used to ensure that new technologies are deployed cost-effectively and push the envelope to get them to the next level.”On the talent front, Micron is creating a pipeline of local Malaysian talent from a young age. This means driving multiple STEM initiatives targeting local primary and secondary schools and includes a Women in Science and Engineering Program we’re offering at 39 of Penang’s secondary schools. We’re also creating internships for engineering degree holders through the company’s Industry Student Engagement Program (ISEP) and continuing a training program for young diploma holders held in conjunction with Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) to give them skills that are required by the industry.Our workforce development initiative also gives Micron an opportunity to work with young talent new to the industry so they can learn and undergo in-depth industry training from more experienced peers."We use our global network of expertise to train young workers and give them the opportunity to learn and participate in this start-up-like environment,” Singh said. “We have already hired nearly 40 new college graduates from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Our game plan is to continue on this path by hiring a higher percentage of local graduates and giving them access to our facilities to learn our technology and advance our Malaysia facility. More than that, we hope our collaboration with local universities can extend further into high-impact research initiatives that benefit the wider community."Micron’s Commitment to Malaysia’s Communities During the COVID-19 PandemicMicron is investing in the greater Malaysian community as the country fights the current COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysia is one of five countries prioritized to receive grants from Micron’s $35 million global relief fund. The company recently announced a RM2.6 million donation from the Micron Foundation that will help the three groups most in need – front-line workers and hospitals, children and the elderly in charitable homes, and underprivileged families in Muar and Penang near its facilities. The goal is to quickly distribute aid such as medical and personal protective equipment, food and household items, and financial assistance.In addition, Micron is supporting its Malaysian employees by making a one-time assistance payment of RM1,300 to 94% of its workforce based in Muar and Penang. This is the percentage of the workforce meeting the eligibility criteria.Designated as an essential services provider by the Malaysian government, Micron continues to maintain its local operations. Micron products built in Malaysia are critical to helping the world effectively cope with COVID-19. Our technology enables advanced medical devices for treatment, data centers and supercomputers used by scientists to find new solutions, and e-learning and videoconferencing capabilities that connect the world during this period of restricted movement.Sangeeta Rajgopal is Head of Country Communications Marketing, Singapore Malaysia Global Communications Marketing, Micron

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, the world has been flocking online – to connect, to share stories, and, for those who can, to continue to work to help keep the wheels of economies turning. With its shift away from in-person events, the SEMI Foundation, too, has found new ways to connect with members and talent. We have started to develop online content for high-school and university students to maintain engagement with these vital pools of future talent. As we build our online presence, we will also explore providing support for reskilling employees, veterans and other target hire groups to help meet microelectronics industry’s talent needs.This strategic shift involves repurposing and transforming existing programs. One key focus area as we evolve our work has been SEMI High Tech U (HTU), a hands-on industry exposure program the SEMI Foundation launched in 2001. The program aims to gather high-school students at member company work sites to learn about the science behind semiconductor technology and various career paths. We are working to offer this career education opportunity online to better connect with students and educators all over the world, regardless of their proximity to a member company. This new guided online journey through the manufacture of a silicon chip will allow users to learn about the science, technology, equipment and companies needed to create this amazing device that is the heart of our digital world.The SEMI Foundation’s open houses catering to university students are also going online. The virtual events will give students a chance to learn about the critical technologies emerging from the microelectronics industry and available career opportunities. They will also be able to submit their resumes for open positions at our member companies.We’re excited as we gear up to launch these online programs in order to expand our reach and impact and to support the critical workforce development needs of our member companies. As we begin to expand our online content, we will be recording our educational webinars and gathering testimonials from corporate leaders and offering both as free resource to members, students and potential hires. These digital resources will help our members share talent development best practices and give students deeper insights into the industry.If you would like to support these initiatives as the SEMI Foundation continues to help the industry attract, develop and retain talent in ways that no single member company can alone, you may do so in a number of ways: Volunteer to review educational content for accuracy and relevance Sign up to be a speaker or panelist at upcoming virtual events Share industry informational videos Highlight industry technologies that are making a difference in the world Showcase how your company is addressing STEM education and workforce development Sponsor an upcoming SEMI Foundation workforce development event To get involved, please contact Shari Liss, executive director of the SEMI Foundation, at [email protected].

As technology companies worldwide struggle to narrow the yawning gender parity gap, organizations in other industries ranging from insurance and food services to banking have emerged as guiding lights for how to boost the number of women in the workplace. MetLife, the 48,000-employee insurance giant, is among the standouts. In 2015, the New York-based company launched Developing Women’s Career Experience, a 14-month program designed to hone the business and strategic acumen of high-potential female workers. The goal was to increase the sense of urgency to promote women. The program bore fruit, expanding the representation of female managers and entry-level workers to 50 percent. Over the past five years, Sodexo, the French food services and facilities management company headquartered in Paris, has also upped female representation on its list of corporate priorities, expanding the ranks of women in entry and manager roles by 10 percent on average. More impressively, the number of women senior vice presidents has grown 20 percent and those in the C-suite have doubled.Sodexo drove the increases by developing a scorecard to hold managers accountable for diversity and inclusion and tying their performance to total compensation. Fully 10 percent of their bonuses were linked to strides in diversity and inclusion. Leaders at the 470,000-employee company scored points for hiring, promoting and retaining more women and underrepresented groups and could hike the total by taking other steps to improve the work culture by demonstrating inclusive leadership.“We do see companies taking bold actions and are seeing tremendous results,” said Audrey Bernardo, a partner at consultancy McKinsey Company, as she presented the case studies at Diversity – Women in Tech to kick off FLEX|MEMS Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC) 2020 last week in San Jose.And it turns out the payoffs matter not only for the bottom line but also a company’s ability to attract and retain the best talent. Citing research from the McKinsey Company and Lean In 2019 report Women in the Workplace as well as McKinsey’s 2018 Delivering through Diversity, Bernardo noted that gender-diverse companies are 24 percent more likely to financially outperform their less inclusive counterparts, while organizations with higher ethnic diversity are 33 percent more likely to outshine less diverse companies.Younger workers are particularly sensitive to diversity biases. The survey of more 250,000 employees at 600 companies found that employees under the age of 30 are almost two times more likely than older workers to raise the need for diversity and more likely to see bias in the workplace.“Diversity and inclusion has become a business imperative,” Bernardo said. Yet despite the urgency, gains among tech companies in cultivating a diverse workforce have been hard-won in part because of the challenge to better balance the proportions of male and female workers. And the headwinds start to gather when females are young. According to the report, 15-year-old females are vastly outnumbered by boys in their appetite to work in tech fields, with girls 65 percent to 84 percent less interested in pursuing tech careers than boys the same age.That dynamic extends to females in their college years. Despite earning more degrees than men overall, women account for the minority of tech degrees – ranging from as low as 13 percent representation in Chile and 15 percent in Brazil to as high as 45 percent and 36 percent, respectively, in India and Mexico. In the U.S., women account for just 23 percent of undergraduate degrees in tech.Bernardo praised the growing number of companies that are “reaching further down the age pipeline” to inspire young students to pursue STEM educations and careers in tech and cited the work of the SEMI Foundation – through High Tech U and other programs geared toward young students – to inspire the next generation of industry workers.The picture brightens once women have entered careers at technology hardware companies – they are promoted at only a slightly lower rate than men. Yet when it comes to outside hires, women are brought on board at a much lower rate than men. For example, women account for just 22 percent of the senior vice presidents hired at hardware companies, 17 percent of vice presidents, 22 percent of senior managers and directors, and 25 percent of managers.Part of the challenge for women in senior leadership positions is balancing careers with their home lives since they are two times more likely to be in dual-career households than their male counterparts.“We will never solve the women-in the-workplace problem until we solve the women-in-the-home problem,” Bernardo said.Indeed, giving women the leeway to work from home and take time off for family or personal reasons ranked among the power practices the study found most correlated to diversity and inclusion progress. Others include C-level executive participation in shaping a diversity and inclusion strategy, establishing numeric targets for tracking gender representation across the workforce as Sodexo has done, and unconscious bias training. “D I needs to be visible from the top,” Bernardo said.A shining example of executive support for diversity and inclusion initiatives is the work by Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank to encourage workers to embrace differences in people and build awareness of unconscious bias. In 2018, the 23,000-employee company held a daylong event that included workshops focused on candid conversations about gender, race, disability, LGPTQ identity, religion and military service.The Day of Understanding was sponsored by the SunTrust CEO. Within three years, the proportion of employees viewing the SunTrust workplace as inclusive grew to 80 percent, an 11 percent jump.Michael Hall is a marketing communications manager at SEMI.

High-tech industry clusters in the bustling northern Taiwan port city of Hsinchu look set for an upgrade. Long a world-class hub of the semiconductor and optoelectronic technology industries, Hsinchu City is laying out plans to work with SEMI to attract more international companies, generate more jobs, promote Hsinchu’s development and help grow Taiwan’s microelectronics industry. High-tech heavyweights such as TSMC, UMC, MediaTek, Realtek, and AUO are all headquartered in The Windy City. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a leading Taiwan research center and incubator, also calls Hsinchu home, and the city boasts one of the highest concentrations of educational institutions in the region, a roster that includes National Chiao Tung and National Tsing Hua universities. Hsinchu’s thriving relations with these industry, academic and research partners have made it a hotbed of innovation, with numerous large Taiwanese and foreign companies having opened local offices. No less than these partners, the city – like SEMI – is committed to innovation.In a recent visit to the SEMI Taiwan office in Taipei, a Hsinchu City government team led by mayor Lin Chih-Chien, met with Terry Tsao, global SEMI chief marketing officer and president of SEMI Taiwan, to explore collaboration opportunities in areas such as technology subsidies, policy, education, and infrastructure. The meeting built on a relationship between the city and SEMI Taiwan that sprouted after SEMI executives and Hsinchu officials joined ITRI to host the Autonomous Driving System Platform in Open Fields kick-off ceremony – an initiative to accelerate Taiwan’s adoption of smart transportation technologies – at SEMICON Taiwan 2019.At the meeting, Mayor Lin highlighted that Hsinchu has long attracted high-tech companies by cultivating a business-friendly climate through incentives such as subsidies for infrastructure buildouts. He hopes to work with SEMI to promote to members the benefits of setting up local offices in Hsinchu City.With both Hsinchu’s high-tech clusters and SEMI’s global members deeply reliant on skilled workers for sustaining innovation and growth, Tsao and Mayor Lin agreed that inspiring students to pursue an education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is vital to building a high-tech talent pool. One collaboration opportunity SEMI Taiwan is eyeing is to launch Taiwan’s first SEMI High Tech U (HTU) program in Hsinchu to spark the interest of school-age children through STEM educational activities at school camps or art and cultural centers. SEMI’s STEM discovery program offers hands-on activities and experiential learning led by industry volunteers. Since 2002, HTU has reached some 8,000 high-school students in 12 U.S. states and nine countries.Emmy Yi is a marketing specialist at SEMI Taiwan.

Global and regional forces shaping the $2 trillion electronics industry have intensified more in the past few years than at any other time I can recall. The uncertainty bred by trade wars, corporate tax changes, new environmental regulations, immigration issues and STEM talent shortages is vexing the global microelectronics supply chain as companies shift investments and operational strategies to adjust to the unrelenting change and new realities with heightened urgency.In our industry, an increasingly dynamic world requires a more determined and strategic approach to advocacy. To meet the industry’s rapidly evolving needs, SEMI is transforming its global advocacy initiatives and programs. In the past 18 months, we have honed the focus of SEMI Global Advocacy to better serve member interests and needs, respond more quickly to fast-moving geopolitical developments, and deliver more value to help spur growth across the end-to-end electronics supply chain.Most importantly, SEMI Global Advocacy is now much more forward-looking and proactive. We have expanded our focus from primarily U.S. and independent regional issues to global affairs, allowing us to better leverage the power of our worldwide platforms. Organizationally, SEMI continues to add specialized staff advocates and calibrate its operational and member-driven engagement models to increase their involvement. There will be more to come, and with your continued support, we’ll be in a stronger position to meet your needs. Thank you!Strengthening the industry’s voiceThe rapid shift to a more proactive advocacy approach across all our initiatives was triggered by one disruptive action a little more than a year ago – the buildup and onset of the trade war between the United States and China. From the outset, SEMI formed strong member coalitions to intensify our lobbying efforts, met frequently with policymakers, submitted written comments to government panels, and issued public communications, all aimed at amplifying our collective voice. SEMI has taken a principled approach to advocacy, publicly stating its positions based on its trade pillars of free and fair trade/open markets, supply chain growth, respect for IP and national security.That approach was on full display as Japan tightened controls on exports to the Republic of Korea, sending shockwaves through the microelectronics industry. To minimize the industry impact, we leveraged our global reach and the counsel of our International Board of Directors to engage with both governments early on and ensure that Japan took into account our members’ interests in developing and implementing the new rules. In general, SEMI opposes the use of tariffs and limiting market access as levers to correct trade imbalances and other structural issues. Instead, we support dialogue and negotiations that lead to multilateral agreements aligned with our members’ interests and global trade principles.This year in the U.S. alone, SEMI advocates have met with more than 70 policymakers in Washington, D.C., including members of Congress and representatives from the White House, federal agencies and the Trade Representative’s office. We have also spoken with representatives from European and Asian government delegations. Since the trade war erupted, we have met with more than 220 policymakers worldwide, giving SEMI a seat at the table – a louder voice for our members – as we are increasingly seen as the voice of the end-to-end electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. SEMI Global Advocacy has also broadened its focus beyond public policy to address other areas of strategic importance to the industry such as the talent shortage.Expanding Advocacy’s global influenceSEMI’s public policy efforts now reach well beyond Washington, D.C. to all seven major manufacturing centers worldwide where we have regional offices, with SEMI advocacy staff in every location. This has created a network multiplier effect that allows us to rally our collective strength around common member interests. It’s no coincidence that our member-driven advocacy initiatives and programs have improved in parallel with expanded global participation by our member companies on our various policy and advocacy committees.Our Trade Advisory Committee, for example, has grown from 16 to 60 active members in the past year alone. This year, we have also formed working groups with SEMI members around the world to address talent pipeline challenges. The upshot is that we are now much more focused in attacking regional issues. Thank you once again.Despite changes in the strategic approach of SEMI Global Advocacy, we remain squarely focused on critical issues affecting industry growth and our members’ interests. In a nutshell, we call these the four T's: Tax – We strive to encourage rates that are fair to all companies, leveling the playing field globally Technology – We seek government investment in technology and innovation (R D) Trade – We advocate for open markets, free and fair trade as we promote our 10 Principles for the Global Semiconductor Supply Chain in Modern Trade Agreements worldwide Talent – We support education investments and immigration policies that provide opportunities and build the talent pipeline In addition, SEMI has long been a leading voice in promoting Environment, Health and Safety regulations that enable industry growth and demonstrate environmental stewardship – and we continue to make investments at this critical juncture as new technologies are driving changes in the regulatory landscape.Maintaining laser focus on member priorities amid shifting geopoliticsThe only way for SEMI Global Advocacy to navigate the cauldron of geopolitical disruption is to remain laser-focused on our members’ top priorities including trade, tax, technology and talent. And we will stick to what SEMI has done best for almost 50 years – facilitate public-private collaborations and more investment on behalf of our members.In workforce development, SEMI is taking bold steps to develop a robust talent pipeline, as much a growth and innovation driver for SEMI members and the industry as any technology. Announced earlier this year, SEMI Works™, our landmark talent development initiative, is already gaining steam with U.S. government investment and our rapid progress in laying its foundation with a database of standardized competencies for technical jobs as well as a certification and credentialing process for curriculum, education and training programs.The future for SEMI members and the industry is brimming with possibility. The strides SEMI Global Advocacy has made over the past year have only been possible through your support and involvement. As we broaden our scope beyond policy, we recognize that more progress needs to be made. We look forward to your continued participation as, together, we help our industry fulfill its great potential.Mike Russo is Vice President of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI.

Like all other SEMICON expositions, SEMICON West last month gathered thousands of people to make business connections and learn about the industry and its opportunities. But the events are also great venues for SEMI’s Global Industry Advocacy team to meet with industry leaders from around the world as well as regional SEMI presidents to discuss policy issues we face in each region and best practices for how to address them. The time was also ripe for us to meet with various advisory groups and advocacy committees to examine current issues.Top on our list at SEMICON West was a discussion with SEMI’s International Board of Directors about the then newly announced actions by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to tighten export controls in trade with Korea. SEMI depends heavily on and is grateful for insights from its International Board, Board of Industry Leaders and various Regional Advisory Boards. They are crucial to our ability to develop and execute industry advocacy strategies that take into account regional idiosyncrasies, geopolitical sensitivities and global supply chain complexities. SEMI is unique in its ability to bring a global perspective to engaging governments around the world in real time. In the case of the trade dispute between Japan and South Korea, we engaged SEMI members in Japan and Korea as we developed our strategy.On the SEMI America’s front, the North American Advisory Board and its Public Policy Committee met at SEMICON West for a spirited discussion on how to best manage our lobbying activities and how regional and U.S. companies should be involved. The committee’s perspectives and guidance will be invaluable as we chart a path forward in these challenging times in global trade.Our Global Industry Advocacy team also continues to build out SEMI Works, SEMI’s comprehensive initiative to develop a talent pipeline and overcome the industry’s longstanding shortage of skilled workers. SEMI Works focuses on stimulating greater interest in STEM careers, aligning STEM course curriculum and industry needs, and connecting students with relevant courses and careers. We are in the process of launching three regional pilot programs that will enable us to develop the SEMI Works business model that we’ll use to scale the program and ensure the initiative is robust and sustainable. At SEMICON West the Global Advocacy team convened regional stakeholders involved in these pilots to share information on opportunities and challenges and to discuss various implementation strategies.At SEMICON West we also facilitated meetings with U.S. government representatives aimed at improving cybersecurity in manufacturing and developing a commercial security model that will strengthen security throughout the supply chain in areas vital to industry growth such as traceability.After nearly 50 years, SEMI still excels in enabling the industry collaborations key to growth and innovation. Collaboration is also a driving force within SEMI Global Industry Advocacy as we continue to work with SEMI members, our various boards and governments around the world to advance the interests of the semiconductor industry.Mike Russo is vice president of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI.

SEMI is excited to recognize Elizabeth Lee of X-Fab as the SEMI Spotlight on Women Honoree for Q2 2019!Spotlight on SEMI Women celebrates the many accomplished women who work in the global microelectronics industry. Nominees in the quarterly spotlight include women who are beacons of knowledge, leaders of organizations and initiatives, hidden heroes and innovators in our industry. They are volunteers, protectors, intellectual disruptors and activists. Learn how you can nominate a woman for Spotlight on SEMI Women.Elizabeth Lee has loved technology from a young age. As a child, Elizabeth once took apart a broken VHS player and managed to repair the device, armed with nothing but a few simple tools and a strong sense of curiosity. After her more than 15 years in the microelectronics industry, it’s clear that this love – along with Elizabeth’s drive, curiosity, and tenacity – has allowed her to thrive in her career and have a significant impact as a leader not only as a quality systems engineer at X-Fab but in her community.Growing up in a rural Texas town of fewer than 200 people, Elizabeth found opportunities to learn about STEM extremely limited. Although Elizabeth’s interest in technology started at a young age, her first real learning opportunity came during a high-school computer science class. Fascinated by the physics of how computers work, Elizabeth became inspired to pursue electrical engineering at Texas Tech University after graduation.Elizabeth’s transition to university life was difficult. She struggled to balance life as a young mother with her studies and became frustrated when she saw no career path to electrical engineering. During her junior year at Texas Tech, Elizabeth was ready to move into a different field and requested a transfer into civil engineering. Looking back, Elizabeth sees this moment as a crucial turning point in her life that would eventually propel her into the semiconductor industry. Her academic advisor, also a woman, denied the transfer request and pushed Elizabeth to remain in electrical engineering. The advisor also urged Elizabeth to expand her focus outside of academics and get hands-on experience through undergraduate research.Elizabeth acted on the advice and found herself performing research at the Texas Tech nanotech center. She also began volunteering with West Texas BEST – a high-school robotics program that engages students in STEM and semiconductor technologies.Elizabeth has now volunteered for BEST for more than 18 years. She has served on its computer game development board, helping to design games and create rules, and contributed as an author. Elizabeth also served on the South Plains chapter of IEEE as secretary of the board, vice chair, chair, and is now an advisor for the TTU IEEE student brand of WiE (Women in Engineering).She is also a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Texas Tech University and the Faculty/Staff committee chair. More recently, Elizabeth participated in SEMI High Tech U (HTU), a STEM immersion program for high-school students, and will serve as an emcee for the third time in an upcoming HTU program. Elizabeth graduated with a master’s from Texas Tech after her research in MEMS biomedical lab-on-a-chip and quantum mechanics evaluation of AIO2 tunnel junctions. In 2004, she began her journey with X-Fab, where her responsibilities have included sustaining legacy node silicon technologies and developing yield improvement analysis techniques in the areas of silicon and silicon carbide. She was awarded the Technical Ladder distinction of Principal Engineer in 2015.Today, Elizabeth has more than 15 years of experience in quality, yield improvement, and process integration, all areas that support X-Fab foundry customers with yield and failure investigations. In addition to her technical accomplishments, she represented X-Fab as a Value Promoter, introducing new X-Fab employees to its core values. Over the course of Elizabeth’s career at X-Fab, she has continued to lead key improvement initiatives and dedicate herself to her community.Cristina Sandoval is manager of Workforce Development at SEMI.

With one of the oldest and largest public education systems in the developed world, how well does the US public education system serve the global electronics industry? Public education in the US has had time on its side. In 1635 the Boston Latin School became the first public school in the US. Boston Latin was originally a boys-only secondary school that taught Greek, Latin and the humanities. It wasn’t until 1918, however, that the US government required all children to obtain at least an elementary-school education – available to them through free public schools. As public education increasingly served the masses rather than just the elite, a balance of humanities, mathematics and science began to replace the classics.While free public education in the US got a comparatively early start, most American students score lower in science and math than students in many other developed nations. According to a 2017 Pew Research Study, 15-year-old American students ranked 24th in the world in international standardized age-group science testing and 38th in the world in standardized mathematics testing. While test scores are just one measure of proficiency, do they in some way reflect a lack of motivation to study science and math because of students’ unfamiliarity with STEM careers? Source: Pew Research. See article. Make STEM RelevantIf we want the US to remain a leader in the global electronics industry, we need to pay attention to the disconnects between academics and workforce development. We must help show students at an early age that STEM careers can be exciting, creative and fulfilling, and that math and science are essential to STEM.Ways to Get InvolvedWhether you work for a large publicly traded electronics manufacturer, an equipment or materials supplier, a foundry or a startup, you can take action to support student engagement in STEM. Here are a few ways to get involved:Participate in Community Programs One fun way to inspire budding technologists is to sponsor one of the FIRST programs for students. These age-segmented competitive programs range from FIRST LEGO League, Jr. Challenge for six-ten year-olds to FIRST Robotics Challenges for high school and college students, giving you the opportunity to sponsor a team or even to coach.Our company sponsors Team TNT, a Southern Oregon-based team that placed among the world’s top high school robotics teams at the spring 2018 world championships. We also brought two members of Team TNT to SEMICON West 2018, where they attended SEMI’s three-day High Tech U and presented their insights on building their FIRST Challenge robot at the Smart Workforce Pavilion. Margaux Quady (L) and Matthew Mills (R), Team TNT members, presented at SEMI’s Smart Workforce Pavilion at SEMICON West (Rogue Valley Microdevices) Concerned about the dearth of girls interested in STEM — and the small numbers of women in engineering careers? Look for your local equivalent of the Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering, and Math (AWSEM) Symposium, a day-long program for middle school girls. One of our engineers, Jennifer Devin, gave a hands-on workshop on deconstructing smartphones to showcase the silicon chips inside them. If you cannot find something like AWSEM, check out national programs such as the Society for Women Engineers (SWE)’s SWENext program for girls ages 13-18 as well as Girl Powered.Partner with Local SchoolsYou would be surprised at the opportunities to present what you do in the classrooms of school-age children. Take after Allyson Hartzell, managing engineer at Veryst Engineering in Needham, MA. Allyson speaks with students in her local elementary schools of Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts because she thinks that we must reach younger children to get them excited about STEM learning. “Waiting until middle school or high school to help students visualize the real-world appeal of STEM careers is just too late,” said Hartzell. “I’ve had amazing experiences working with local elementary-school students. Students become engaged when you show them real-world examples such as electron micrographs of MEMS.”Many middle schools and high schools also look to their communities to provide tutors in STEM subjects. Check with the community liaison at your local school to get started.Engage in Internship ProgramsInvolvement doesn’t stop in the K-12 grades. Seek out a local university’s internship program and hire some interns in that program to work at your company. The interns will gain valuable applied experience in your environment, and you might find young engineers who would love to join your company after they graduate. Oregon’s MECOP, an engineering-specific internship program founded on close industry-university collaboration, has been amazing for our recruitment. Some of our finest engineers were once in the MECOP program, including our engineering manager.Anything you do to get involved in inspiring coming generations of students to explore STEM — no matter how small your action — will make a positive difference in helping US students become better prepared to enter a technology-focused workforce. Through collaboration and creativity, we can help US companies keep the global electronics industry moving toward greater innovation. Jessica Gomez, CEO and co-founder of Rogue Valley Microdevices, entered the semiconductor manufacturing field in 1998 at Standard Microsystems Corporation of Hauppauge, New York where she acquired valuable knowledge in both semiconductor processing and production management. Jessica also held positions at Integrated Micromachines and Xponent Photonics prior to co-founding Rogue Valley Microdevices in 2003. As head of a technology company, Jessica recognizes the criticality of workforce development – and has become an advocate of STEM education. Rogue Valley Microdevices supports STEM initiatives for middle-school girls, a competitive robotics team for high school students, and a college internship program specifically for engineers.Expanding her energies beyond the company she co-founded, Jessica is also applying her passion for change to politics. She is currently campaigning for the Oregon State Senate.For more information, visit Rogue Valley Microdevices.