In this edition of semiconductor news to know, summer is now in full swing with stronger semiconductor sales and expected growth gains throughout the year. In the semiconductor space, the global market has experienced year-to-year growth of greater than 20 percent for 13 consecutive months as announced by John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
The wave of new regulations and policy proposals forecasts a stronger focus towards lucrative industry initiatives and better internal organizational practices. We expect continued development in global collaboration to benefit industry security customs, uphold ethical standards, and better workforce development. Further dialogue in organization behavior and goals marks a signal towards responsible action and a commitment to doing good in the world.
There’s a lot to glean from this quarter's industry news. Read on to explore the latest semiconductor news and technology trends in the second quarter of 2018.
The World Semiconductor Council agree on global policy agenda
For the 22nd annual meeting, the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) assembled world leaders and executives of the semiconductor industry to address issues of global concern within the forum. To continue the conversation for mutually beneficial government policies, the forum set a series of policy proposals to strengthen the industry through greater international collaboration. The pace of technological advances is happening fast with the advances of IoT, energy-efficient sensing, automated devices, robotics, and AI. In order to nurture these sectors and strengthen the semiconductor industry, the WSC reaffirmed its core mission: to ensure that government policies are guided by transparency and market-based principles.
Leaders in attendance developed recommendations in the following areas:
- Encryption- ensure open global market access for commercial products by advocating for the WSC to be included in trade agreements
- Environment, Safety, and Health- maintain efforts to reduce the industry’s emissions of PFCs and highlight industry’s successful efforts to manage chemicals
- Protection of Intellectual Property- continue efforts to strengthen protection of trade secrets and patent quality
SIA releases challenges and opportunities report facing semiconductor workforce
The SIA Workforce Committee sheds light on challenges and opportunities facing the semiconductor workforce. The semiconductor industry creates more than one million jobs across the economy. In fact, the outlook for employment looks bright with a projected increase of 11.5 million new jobs in the next few years. But cutting-edge innovation depends on the efforts of scientists and engineers. While the weight of success rests heavily on the talents of its workforce, the report spotlights pressing cases that affect workforce development in the semiconductor space.
The report highlights a host of challenges including:
- Recruiting and hiring talented foreign nationals due to immigration laws and regulations
The best and brightest students aren’t limited to American soil. Eighty percent of current graduate students in electrical engineering and computer science at U.S. universities are foreign nationals. The current regulatory landscape makes it highly difficult for foreign talent to work, live, and contribute to the American economy.
- Semiconductor workforce is aging and the pipeline of younger talent is thinning
The U.S. workforce has an average age of 48-50. Young STEM students have a much lower awareness of the role of semiconductors in the economy with “new tech” on the rise. As a result, top talent may specialize in areas that aren’t relevant to the semiconductor industry. Among the elements stuffing the pipeline include the lack of soft skills required to work effectively in collaboration with a team. Bridging the skills gap should be a continuous effort for most organizations aiming for innovation and growth. There is also a lack of diversity and care for values within workforces, which presents challenges for engagement and retention.
- Consolidation and specialization concentrates talents at a decreasing number of large firms
While semiconductor industries use mergers and acquisitions to acquire talented teams of engineers, the opportunity to acquire talent decreases with firms focusing on their own ranges of technologies. With much of the talent competing against each other, few technical recruits move up through the ranks.
With these challenges, there are also some potential opportunities:
- Increasing funding for semiconductor research and development (R&D)
By investing in R&D areas in the semiconductor fields, it would signal important demand to the science and engineering community. Stimulating excitement and interest in research and development paves a thriving career path for STEM talent to pursue.
- Aligning more academia with needed skills in high-tech industries
Aligning the curriculum of high-quality STEM education throughout the education system will promote the studies of sciences and maths at an early start. The government and industry should work in tandem to bring more hands-on experience with semiconductors into more classrooms.
- Strengthening industry engagement with federal, state, and local workforce development boards, apprenticeships programs, and other mechanisms
Governments with economic and workforce development investments win big when the industry prospers. U.S. semiconductor firms should expand engagements with state and local bodies to better focus workforce investments on areas of need. Especially in dynamic manufacturing sectors, an agile apprenticeship model is needed to meet the industry’s speed and call for efficiency.
- Deepening efforts to engage underrepresented populations in STEM fields, including women, minorities, and veterans of the armed forces
By implementing targeted diversity initiatives, focused mentorships, and bias training in hiring, companies can improve representation within their workforce and grow their bottom line.
H-1B visa applications dropped for the second year in a row
For the second year in a row, H-1B visa applications have dropped. From 199,000 applications in 2017 to 190,098 submissions in 2018, the decline of the drop is attributed predominantly to federal policy changes.
While we’ve talked about immigration reform affecting semiconductor talent acquisition in the past, a lot has happened in the space since then. In particular, the talk of the town has been H-1B visas. This visa allows American companies to hire and house highly-skilled foreign workers. Commonly used by the nation’s biggest technology centers, employing foreign-born workers in STEM fields drives continued business success and growth, especially in tech, IT, and semiconductor powerhouses. But hiring talent amid strict immigration policies makes this difficult to accomplish. Jobs placements for foreigners gets even harder with the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act, which aims to deter “H-1B dependent” companies from outsourcing jobs. Early this year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a policy memo drawing a number of additional requirements to confirm the nature of relationship between an employer and their employees.
Filling in job vacancies with talent bred from valuable educational and work experience should be a standard across all industries. Rather than hiring for cheap labor, acquiring top quality talent through fair practices should be of high priority. While immigration is no simple issue, the fact remains that preparing for any changes to immigration laws while empowering the workforce to be and do the best work they can is a given.
Ethisphere unveils 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree List
A round of rocky challenges in 2017 emphasized the importance of culture and ethical leadership in long-term business success, health, and reputation. As regulatory expectations continue to grow in conjunction with stakeholder expectations, managing transparency around business behavior is more important than ever. As Timothy Erblich, CEO of the Ethisphere Institute stated, “While negative headlines might grab attention, the companies who support the rule of law and operate with decency and fair play around the globe will always succeed in the long term.”
Annually, Ethisphere Institute recognizes companies who drive positive change in corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance, and ethics. The global leader released the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies report, which identifies 135 companies spanning 23 countries and 57 industries. The awards were based on a set criteria of five categories from Ethisphere’s Ethics Quotient (EQ):
- Ethics and compliance program (35%)
- Corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%)
- Culture of ethics (20%)
- Governance (15%)
- Leadership, innovation, and reputation (10%)
Among the honorees, companies in the high-tech sector like electronics and semiconductor, defense, manufacturing, logistics, and automotive were well-represented on the list. Leading semiconductor organizations like Applied Materials, Texas Instruments, and Intel are ushering the charge to good. Companies ahead of the curve shape innovative ways to protect employees, nurture relationships with suppliers and buyers, and upkeep public perception, while also making a positive impact.
On the same note, Ethisphere also delivered its Leading Practices and Trends report, an account of best practices of organizations across industries and globally. Proven tried and true, companies thrive when a culture of ethics lives in their overall business plan. The report outlines the power of diversity, building trust through transparency, whistleblower protection, and measuring impact through strong, ethical culture. It’s all about doing work the right way. Those who practice diversity, ethics, and culture fare better in future success.
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