Semiconductor industry looks to Arizona kids for future hires
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TSMC's north Phoenix campus will take more than a decade to complete — which means the company's next generation of recruits is currently attending Phoenix elementary schools.
Why it matters: The Valley's initial priority was prepping ready-to-work employees for TSMC. Now, recruitment should begin earlier in the pipeline to get Arizona kids prepared for — and excited about — the semiconductor field, education and industry experts told Axios.
State of play: TSMC has partnered with the Deer Valley Unified School District to send engineers into classrooms to get young students thinking about semiconductors, TSMC Arizona president Rose Castanares told us.
- West-MEC, a career-technical education (CTE) school serving West Valley districts, last year broke ground on a 16,500-square-foot advanced manufacturing and welding building that will allow high schoolers to start technician training before graduation.
Yes, but: Elementary and middle school opportunities need to be more widespread and accessible, said Shan Strategies founder Pearl Chang Esau, who does workforce consulting for TSMC.
Threat level: Even before TSMC's arrival, Arizona struggled to recruit and retain qualified CTE teachers, because they can make more money in other careers, she told us.
- The public school system must double down on supporting teachers with summer externships and other continued learning opportunities to bring those skills to their students, she said.
The intrigue: There are still a lot of misconceptions about TSMC that make young people and their parents hesitant to explore the career path.
- "Manufacturing" evokes images of dirty factories and monotonous assembly lines — a far cry from the pristine "clean room" fabs and intricate responsibilities technicians are performing, Chang Esau said.
The bottom line: "If the United States is going to be successful in reshoring semiconductor manufacturing ... we're going to need to get the word out better among students and their parents," she said.