(Bloomberg) — At a time when the US is looking to attract more skilled workers to semiconductor manufacturing, many current employees are rethinking whether they want to stick around, according to a McKinsey & Co. report that underscores the chip industry’s labor challenges.
Most Read from Bloomberg
More than half of semiconductor and electronics employees said in 2023 that they are at least somewhat likely to leave their current jobs in the next three to six months, according to the report. That’s up from around two-fifths of workers in 2021. The most commonly cited reason was a lack of career development, followed by limited workplace flexibility.
“We’re going into a boom in terms of demand,” said Wade Toller, a senior adviser at McKinsey who spent two decades at Intel Corp. “About a third of the population in the semi industry is over the age of 55. You’re starting to see signals that some of that population is becoming less satisfied.”
That’s an ominous sign for chipmakers like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. that are building massive new semiconductor factories in the US — spurred by the 2022 Chips and Science Act. The ambitious expansion hinges on finding enough workers to equip and staff the facilities.
Companies, universities and local governments have developed new training programs to create a talent pipeline. But even optimistic projections of the number of graduates coming out of those programs won’t close a “considerable” shortfall, according to McKinsey. Some projections suggest there could be nearly 70,000 unfilled positions by the end of the decade.
The challenge spans three distinct labor pools: construction craft labor, technicians who design and install equipment during the final phases of construction, and both technicians and engineers who keep facilities running once they’re built.
The McKinsey report estimates that workforce development programs specifically for semiconductors are on track to produce around 12,000 engineers and 31,500 technicians by 2029. But just one leading-edge chip facility requires as many as 1,350 engineers and 1,200 technicians to operate.
Those programs are a promising start, Toller said. But very few are focused on chip-specific construction skills, which may prove the first chokepoint. Already, a lack of skilled construction labor caused TSMC to delay the production timeline for its first facility in Arizona. And a building boom across the country — spanning not just semiconductors but also clean energy and infrastructure — means that many projects are competing for the same limited pool of talent.
“There’s a very real risk,” Toller said, “if we don’t organize around that.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
feed from Finance.yahoo.com