Silicon Valley has been named the future home of the National Semiconductor Technology Center headquarters, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
The U.S. Commerce Department decided the new Design and Collaboration Facility will be based in Sunnydale. The facility will serve as the headquarters for the technology center and Natcast, the nonprofit that is operating the center, the Governor’s Office said in a news release on its website.
The Governor’s Office described the project as a first-of-its-kind facility made possible by the CHIPS & Science Act, which Congress passed in 2022. President Joe Biden stressed the importance of semiconductor chips when he spoke that year in favor of Micron’s plans for a $100 billion mega fabrication plant in upstate New York. See the video attached to the online version of this story.
California’s Design and Collaboration Facility is expected to drive more than $1 billion in research funding and create more than 200 direct jobs during the next 10 years, the Governor’s Office said.
It will be one of three CHIPs for America research and development sites.
Newsom: California’s selection not surprising
The selection of California for the semiconductor facility is no surprise, given the state’s status as a leader in global technology and its talent pool, universities, and research institutions, Newsom said.
“We often say the future happens here first, and thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s announcement, California will continue to shape the coming decades across the most critical sectors of our economy and national security,” the governor said.
Facility intended to lower barriers to research
The Design and Collaboration Facility will lower barriers to semiconductor prototyping, experimentation and other research and development, according to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
The Newsom administration and its partners in technology know the importance of shortening the time between research and development and commercialization, said Dee Dee Myers, the economic development office’s director.
She said her office is looking forward to a partnership with Natcast and the Commerce Department to ensure success for California and the U.S.
What are semiconductors?
Semiconductors, or computer chips, power consumer electronics, automobiles, data centers, infrastructure, and military systems. There are many kinds of semiconductors, each with its specialty, according to Intel. A standard chip is only about 1 millimeter thick and contains roughly 30 different layers of components and wires called interconnects that make up its complex circuitry. Billions of microscopic switches called transistors make them work.
Semiconductor jobs to grow by nearly 115,000 jobs by 2030
Since CHIPS was first introduced in Congress, semiconductor companies and their suppliers have announced dozens of projects in the United States totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment. These projects are forecast to create tens of thousands of new jobs and support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs throughout the U.S. economy.
In all, the U.S. semiconductor industry workforce is projected to grow by nearly 115,000 jobs by 2030 – from approximately 345,000 jobs today to about 460,000 jobs by the end of the decade – according to a recent study by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Oxford Economics.
The same report estimated that 67,000 jobs for technicians, computer scientists and engineers in the semiconductor industry risk going unfilled by 2030 without action to strengthen America’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce.
The challenge of expanding the pipeline of STEM talent extends beyond the semiconductor industry. For the U.S. economy as a whole, an estimated 3.85 million additional jobs requiring proficiency in technical fields will be created by the end of 2030, according to the SIA/Oxford study.
USA TODAY contributed to this story.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached atdave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
