SkyWater CEO Thomas Sonderman to Deliver Keynote at SEMICON West
July 06 2023 - 6:05AM
Business Wire
Focus is on building the future workforce
for the semiconductor industry
SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT), the trusted technology
realization partner, today announced its President and CEO, Thomas
Sonderman will provide a keynote at SEMICON West 2023 on July 13th.
The presentation, “Building the Future: Workforce Development in
the Semiconductor Manufacturing Industry," will address the
workforce shortage and how companies must embrace a comprehensive
range of initiatives to ensure a sustainable talent pipeline.
Sonderman will discuss the urgency of workforce development efforts
to bridge the gap between the demand for skilled workers and the
available talent pool. He will also highlight new innovative talent
development programs that SkyWater is pioneering.
The semiconductor manufacturing industry is experiencing
unprecedented challenges due to the increase in demand for
domestically produced semiconductor technologies as envisioned by
the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. One of the expected results will be
a surge of new fabs being constructed, creating a significant
demand for skilled workers across multiple disciplines. According
to semiconductor industry sources, by 2030, an estimated 250,000
new workers will be required to support the rapidly expanding
domestic semiconductor industry; of that, 50,000 are engineers and
200,000 are fab operation technicians, equipment technicians and
other vital support functions.
According to Sonderman, “Technicians and engineers are the heart
and soul of the fab; the ones who are responsible for maintaining
and improving the complicated tools used to make ICs, ensuring
maximum operational effectiveness. As an industry, we need to make
this type of career path exciting and appealing by building
awareness of these types of semiconductor positions through
apprenticeships, internships and scholarships for STEM students.
This includes inspiring students to get semiconductor specific
engineering degrees at universities like Purdue. Awareness is key –
our industry is creating new technologies and capabilities that
make our lives better every day; we want to inspire the best and
brightest talent in our country to be part of that.”
When the fabless foundry model emerged, U.S. companies reduced
their investment in domestic semiconductor fabs. The country still
led the world in product innovation, but designs were migrated
primarily to Asia for volume manufacturing. During the pandemic
when the supply chain was uncertain, national and IP security risks
associated with this paradigm were amplified. The CHIPS and Science
Act was signed into law to provide new funding to boost domestic
research and semiconductor manufacturing. In his speech, Sonderman
will discuss the key elements of the legislation and why
collaboration through public-private partnerships is essential to
revitalizing domestic manufacturing, developing the workforce of
the future, and strengthening critical supply chains to accelerate
the adoption of technologies for the future.
Sonderman points out, “One area that we look to for skilled
workers is the veteran community. As service members transition to
civilian life, there are numerous opportunities for careers in the
semiconductor industry.” Programs like SEMI’s VetWorks, currently
in development, will help U.S. veterans better understand the
semiconductor industry, the careers available to them and how their
skills will transfer to the broad microelectronics ecosystem. The
program also provides training portals and mentorship support to
smooth a veteran’s transition to the industry.
Sonderman believes that public-private partnerships will be
critical to the successful realization of CHIPS enabled
initiatives. For example, SkyWater has implemented an Embedded
Rotational Program allowing a government employee to completely
immerse themselves in industry. This offers them a unique
perspective that they can bring back to the government while
establishing vital new industry relationships for future
collaboration efforts.
Another example of SkyWater’s public-private partnerships is the
company’s advanced packaging operations in Osceola County, Florida.
The County has developed NeoCity, a master planned community to
serve as a catalyst for high-tech innovation, including job
creation and capital investment. In September 2022, Osceola County
and its Coalition partners were awarded $50.8 million from the
Department of Commerce’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant
for NeoCity. Funds from this award will rapidly expand SkyWater
Florida’s capabilities, creating opportunities for many new,
high-wage jobs in the high technology field.
For more information on SEMICON West 2023, please visit:
semiconwest.org/about/welcome.
About SkyWater Technology
SkyWater (NASDAQ: SKYT) is a U.S.-based semiconductor
manufacturer and a DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Foundry.
SkyWater’s Technology as a Service model streamlines the path to
production for customers with development services, volume
production and heterogeneous integration solutions in its
world-class U.S. facilities. This pioneering model enables
innovators to co-create the next wave of technology with diverse
categories including mixed-signal CMOS, ROICs, rad-hard ICs, power
management, MEMS, superconducting ICs, photonics, carbon nanotubes
and interposers. SkyWater serves growing markets including
aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud &
computing, consumer, industrial and IoT. For more information,
visit www.skywatertechnology.com/.
SkyWater Technology Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements that are based on the Company’s current
expectations or forecasts of future events, rather than past events
and outcomes, and such statements are not guarantees of future
performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks,
uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause the Company’s actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Key factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to be
different than expected or anticipated include, but are not limited
to, factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of its annual
report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and in
other documents that the Company files with the SEC, which are
available at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation
to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date of this press release.
SKYT-CORP
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SkyWater Company Contact: Tara Luther | 952.851.5023 |
tara.luther@skywatertechnology.com SkyWater Media Contact:
Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 |
lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com
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