US to face shortage of 67,000 chip industry workers by 2030: study

Job shortage will include computer scientists, engineers, technicians

The U.S. semiconductor industry will need around 67,000 workers by 2030, according to a study prepared by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Oxford Economics.

The industry's workforce sits at roughly 345,000 in 2023 but is predicted to reach 460,000 by the end of the decade. The study said that at the current rate that people are graduating from schools, the U.S. will not have enough qualified workers to fill the increase.

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The study comes as the U.S. works to strengthen its domestic chip sector. The CHIPS Act, which sets aside money for new manufacturing sites, research and development, was signed into law on Aug. 9, 2022. 

At Ohio State's Nanotech West Lab, engineering students learn how to turn design, fabricate, and assess semiconductors. (Stephen Goin / Fox News)

The Commerce Department is overseeing the $39 billion in manufacturing subsidies stipulated under the act, with companies like Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics saying they will apply for the grants.

The law also created a 25% investment tax credit for building new chip factories, or fabs, worth $24 billion.

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While the SIA said the new factories will create jobs, the projected shortage will include computer scientists, engineers and technicians. According to the study, roughly half of the future chip industry jobs will be engineers.

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"This has been a problem that we've been facing for a long time," SIA President John Neuffer said. "But with the CHIPS Act in particular, and the kind of the bending the arc of history towards more manufacture here on U.S. shores, it really kind of threw this acute problem into bold relief."

Ohio State works to addresses semiconductor worker shortage. (Stephen Goin / Fox News)

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The shortage of skilled chip workers is part of a larger shortfall of science, technology, engineering and math graduates in the U.S., according to the report. By the end of 2023, 1.4 million positions may go unfulfilled.

student researcher looks at computer at Oho State

In 2022, Intel committed $100 million to Ohio colleges over the next decade to "address immediate semiconductor manufacturing technical challenges and workforce shortages." (Stephen Goin / Fox News)

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Reuters contributed to this report.