U.S. Chip Industry Confronts 157,000 Worker Shortage as Engineering Talent Flows to AI

The U.S. semiconductor manufacturing sector faces a critical workforce crisis that threatens the nation's ambitions to rebuild domestic chip production, with a projected shortfall of 157,000 skilled workers by 2030—even as the industry grapples with only 3% of engineering graduates choosing careers in chipmaking. The SEMI Foundation, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, found that while the semiconductor industry must grow from approximately 345,000 current jobs to 460,000 by 2030, roughly 67,000 of these new positions risk remaining unfilled at current educational pipeline rates.