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In the beginning of the year, we reported on the trajectory of the semiconductor industry, particularly in the United States. As we noted, the US semiconductor market will face some challenges this year but reports show optimism for a growing global market. The reports from 2016 are in—and it was a good year. Will the successes from 2016 be enough to overcome the challenges ahead?

In this article, let’s take a look at the success the semiconductor industry saw in 2016 and dig into the big acquisition trend we’re seeing among semiconductor companies and how that will impact the industry.

Over the last decade, the amount of contingent labor making up the U.S. workforce grew more than ten percent. Today, more companies recognize the value of blended workforces—enough to make up 40.4% of the workforce, a figure that’s expected to only increase in the coming years. A blended workforce incorporates contract or freelance workers into the mix with full- and part-time employees. This type of arrangement can be mutually beneficial for both the employer and the worker offering advantages like flexibility and specialized skills for specific projects.

Employers look to contingent workers for a number of reasons. If they need to fill a vacancy left by an employee on leave or want to bring in someone with a highly specialized skill set for a new project, or even test out a temporary working situation that could eventually become permanent. Whatever the reason, more employers embrace the contingent worker than ever before.

But that doesn’t mean a blended workforces comes without challenges.

Great news for engineers: your skills are in demand and job availability is increasing. The Department of Labor projects employment of engineers in the US will grow by 4% from 2014 to 2024. While technology advances and the economy continues to rebound, more companies need engineers to achieve their mission objectives.

On the heels of one of the most vulnerable and insecure years in the cyber world, IT security will not be taken lightly in 2017. We’ve seen victims from the everyday consumer to corporate giants. As the cloud and Internet of Things (IoT)  transform the way we live and work, the security risks surrounding them change as well. This year, and in the coming years, cyber security will become an increasingly more significant priority for companies who want to be sure their data is safe. This will require new ways of thinking, more strategic design, and increased expertise in IT security for the workplace—an adaptive security architecture, a bridge between servers and cloud services to today’s IoT. In this article, let’s explore what trends you can expect to see in IT security this year.

In the U.S. workforce, jobs in STEM are the fast-growing and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. Along with the opportunity to advance technology and help better our world, careers in STEM offer lower unemployment and higher pay than other industries. It’s no wonder it’s becoming a growing career choice for many graduating students.

But once you’ve got STEM workers in their jobs, how do you keep them engaged? STEM-related jobs can be competitive. Losing great talent when you’ve worked so hard to find it can cost you.

In the week since January 20, 2017, the world of semiconductors, silicon, and engineers still has a lot in question. One of the biggest issues for the semiconductor industry is immigration reform.

As 2016 came to a close, we recapped some of the top industry news as well as our most popular articles from the last year. The new year has not tarried in bringing us news in the semiconductor industry.

The US semiconductor market faces some challenges in this coming year but reports also show optimism for a growing global market. While the end of Moore’s Law may be in sight, China’s industrial policy has taken center stage for the global semiconductor market concerns. And the Internet of Things is believed to take over research and development focus in 2017. From Chinese threats and the incoming administration to market predictions for 2017, we’ve got your news covered.

The semiconductor industry and its labor market have been on quite a journey this year. As 2016 draws to a close, we want to be sure you’ve gotten all the important content to set you up for a successful 2017. We’ve put together our most popular articles from 2016 in case there’s anything you may have missed! Be sure not to miss another semiconductor update.

What’s been happening in the semiconductor industry lately? We’ve seen a trend toward company mergers while semiconductor experts make efforts to prepare for increasing challenges in the semiconductor industry. And semiconductor sales didn’t do so bad either.

Have you ever thought how STEM initiatives can help your community—and your company? Using community-based outreach to promote STEM initiatives in education is a great way to develop young minds, inspire them to better our planet, and help prepare them for a career that will make a difference.