The SEMI Foundation Launches Career Platform to Diversify and Grow U.S. Semiconductor Workforce

Foundation partners with CAEL to match worker interests and competencies with educational and career opportunities

Learn more at SEMICON West 2022 Hybrid, July 12-14 in San Francisco

MILPITAS, Calif. and INDIANAPOLIS — July 11, 2022 — The SEMI Foundation, the nonprofit arm of SEMI, which is the global industry association representing the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), a nonprofit membership organization working to improve education-to-career pathways for adult learners, today announced the launch of the SEMI Career Exploration Platform. The SEMI Career Exploration Platform is designed to strengthen access for underrepresented workers to educational and employment opportunities in the U.S. semiconductor industry and to grow its talent pipeline. It links the knowledge and skills of workers with career and educational pathways ranging from internships and apprenticeships to certificate and advanced degree programs.

“With rising demand for semiconductors, the ongoing chip shortage, and the industry’s corresponding push to expand production, the talent gap will remain a headwind to microelectronics growth and innovation unless more people are drawn to careers in the industry,” said Shari Liss, executive director of the SEMI Foundation. “The SEMI Career Exploration Platform will help expand and diversify the industry’s talent pool by making it easier for people to chart a rewarding career path.”

“Recent global supply chain disruptions have underscored just how vital the semiconductor space is to our nation’s economy,” said Earl Buford, CAEL president. “As industry looks to ramp up capacity in the U.S., we must ensure our industry, workforce development, and education sectors are aligned to realize these opportunities and ensure that they extend to all communities.”

The SEMI Career Exploration Platform matches users’ competencies and interests with occupations most likely to lead to career success and personal fulfillment. The Platform’s crosswalking feature, geared toward military veterans, maps their service experience and training to semiconductor industry career opportunities.  

Users can explore a job board, education programs, and the organizational profiles of companies and education providers throughout the country. They can also search semiconductor careers in areas including engineering, manufacturing and production, installation and maintenance, information technology, marketing, and business support.

The SEMI Career Exploration Platform is funded by Strada Education Network, which provides support to CAEL, and the SEMI Foundation. The partnership supports the work of SEMI to bolster the microelectronics industry talent pipeline through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that create career pathways for traditionally underrepresented populations in the industry. 

Roadtrip Nation, an educational production company, will create videos in collaboration with the SEMI Foundation and SEMI member companies that showcase success stories of microelectronics professionals to help raise awareness about career possibilities. Featuring traditionally underrepresented workers including women, people of color, and veterans, the videos will be available on the Roadtrip Nation website and featured in a PBS documentary airing next year.

More Details at SEMICON West Hybrid 2022
Learn more about the SEMI Career Exploration Platform in the Workforce Development Pavilion at SEMICON West 2022 Hybrid, July 12-14 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. 

About CAEL
Recognizing that adult learners are the backbone of the U.S. economy, CAEL helps forge a clear, viable connection between education and career success, providing solutions that promote sustainable and equitable economic growth. CAEL opens doors to opportunity in collaboration with workforce and economic developers; postsecondary educators; employers and industry groups; foundations and other mission-aligned organizations. By engaging with these stakeholders, we foster a culture of innovative, lifelong learning that helps individuals and their communities thrive. A membership organization established in 1974, CAEL is a part of Strada Collaborative, a mission-driven nonprofit. Learn more at cael.org and stradacollaborative.org.

About Roadtrip Nation
Roadtrip Nation humanizes career exploration through story and empowers individuals to connect their interests to fulfilling lives and careers. Through its award-winning public television series, New York Times bestselling book “Roadmap,” and educational programs and tools that provide visibility and insights into career possibilities and pathways, Roadtrip Nation gives people from all backgrounds confidence and belief in their ability to persist through challenges and define success for themselves. Roadtrip Nation, a part of Strada Collaborative, has been showcased at the United Nations Social Innovation Summit, Clinton Global Initiative, NBC Education Nation, TEDx, Talks at Google, SXSW, and the Harvard Social Enterprise Forum. For more information, visit roadtripnation.com.

About Strada Education Network
Strada Education Network is a nonprofit dedicated to helping people take advantage of education and training after high school that helps them secure a good job, do meaningful work, contribute to their communities, and lead a fulfilling life. We believe education and training after high school have the potential to be the most powerful and equitable ways to help all people thrive in their careers and lives. To help students succeed beyond completion of a certificate or degree, we conduct research, make charitable grants and social impact investments, and support Strada Collaborative, which directly serves students and workers. Learn more at stradaeducation.org.

About the SEMI Foundation 
The SEMI Foundation supports workforce development in the semiconductor industry. Our charge is to dramatically expand the pipeline of talented workers ready to fill the significant workforce deficits reported by companies worldwide. We are leveraging this critical need for new and more workers as an opportunity to diversify the talent pool, benefitting both the workers and their communities, as well as the companies who hire them. 

The Foundation’s primary focus in diversifying the microelectronics industry workforce is to engage, educate and inspire Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other marginalized people of color, veterans, and women to work in the rewarding sector in order to improve their lives and their communities while meeting the industry’s workforce needs.   

About SEMI
SEMI® connects more than 2,500 member companies and 1.3 million professionals worldwide to advance the technology and business of electronics design and manufacturing. SEMI members are responsible for the innovations in materials, design, equipment, software, devices, and services that enable smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), FlexTech, the Fab Owners Alliance (FOA), the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) and SOI Consortium are SEMI Strategic Technology Communities. Visit www.semi.org to learn more, contact one of our worldwide offices, and connect with SEMI on LinkedIn and Twitter.