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What positions do you need to fill in the coming year? What is your strategy for recruiting and hiring new employees to fill those positions? 

Not every company has created a formal recruitment and hiring strategy. But in today’s challenging marketplace, where companies are juggling remote and hybrid workforces, it’s important to have a robust strategy in place to position your company for greater success. In particular, having a well-thought-out strategy can help you stand out from the crowd of companies also struggling to fill vacant — and often critical — positions.

In 2022, we wrote about some of the developments that shook up the semiconductor industry. Now, let’s look at an overview on the updates of four top stories of the year, including lessons learned. Here are our key takeaways:

China remains the top challenge to U.S. national security interests, according to a recently-released National Defense Strategy report from the Pentagon. As a result, the U.S. government is taking steps to reduce or limit commerce with China. Germany and several other EU countries are similarly concerned about China’s dominance and are changing their policies on doing business with China-based companies. 

Reports of lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe considering and implementing strategies to contain the situation have been coming in for the past few months. Here is a roundup of some of the recent efforts (from newest to oldest):

Today’s job marketplace is more competitive than ever — not for employees, but for employers. Nearly every industry is struggling to fill in-demand positions. In fact, in 2022, there have been an average of 11 million U.S. job openings every month, but only about six million candidates looking for work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) monthly reports.

Rather than seeing the glass as half empty, some experts advise employers to view the current environment as an opportunity to improve their hiring processes; for example, by promoting their company’s positive attributes and realigning its priorities with what today’s workforce wants from an employer.

Attendees at the U.N. climate conference, COP27 Summit, which will be held on November 6 to 18 in Egypt have many topics to discuss, from financing the transition to clean energy to protecting the world's forests and future-proofing its cities. Another important topic is achieving sustainability in the semiconductor industry. 

At a time when there is a push to expand semiconductor production, there is also a focus on making the industry greener. A 2020 study by Harvard researchers on the energy costs of computing found that chip manufacturing “accounts for most of the carbon output attributable to hardware systems.”

At the 1939 World’s Fair, General Motors demonstrated the world’s first self-driving car. It was an electric vehicle guided by radio-controlled electromagnetic fields and operated from magnetized metal spikes embedded in the roadway.

Just over 80 years later, the concept has evolved, although not to the point of filling our highways with autonomous vehicles— yet, at least. In 2018, ABI Research predicted that could change by 2025. It stated that, there will be approximately eight million autonomous vehicles on the roads by then. But we’re likely still a long way from that number. First, the technology must catch up.

The CHIPS for America Act and FABS Act represents a much-anticipated boon for the U.S. semiconductor industry, providing $52.7 billion for investment. 

In August 2022, the U.S. Congress approved the funds for semiconductor manufacturing and research, plus a 25% investment tax credit for chip plants (an estimated additional $24 billion). That credit applies to projects that start construction after January 1, 2023.

The third quarter of 2022 experienced major global semiconductor news. The U.S., along with Germany, have placed major new restrictions on China’s semiconductor sector. Four new chip factories broke ground from Boise, Idaho, to Chatham County, North Carolina, all with the benefit of funding from the CHIPS Act. 

Also, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it will be accepting proposals for CHIPS Act funds by early 2023. All this activity took place on the back of a global semiconductor sales increase of 13.3% from Q2 2022 to Q2 2021.

As we approach the tail end of 2022, forward-looking predictions for cybersecurity threats companies will face in 2023 are coming in. Trends in threats include cybercriminals finding workarounds to some of the newest defense solutions, and, in some cases, fewer incidents but an increase in attack severity.