Engineers

You may have heard that for the semiconductor industry to reach $1 trillion, it needs around one million new workers globally. This includes entry level talent, technicians, supporting roles like accounting and human resources, and of course, semiconductor engineers. 

As it stands, no single industry has ever reached $1 trillion in annual revenue. The semiconductor industry is expected to achieve this milestone by 2030, and much of this uncharted growth is being propelled by developments in AI and electric vehicles – both of which require a strong backbone of engineers. 

So, with an engineering shortage and ambitious goals to consider, I wondered how the industry was coping. What’s being done right now to boost the global semiconductor engineering talent pool?

Although many workforce development issues are systemic, the keys for success appear to be immersive education initiatives, instilling purpose around engineering work, and reverting to analog recruiting methods. 

Workforce Development Starts With STEM Engagement 

In 2023, global investments in K-12 STEM education hit $49.6 billion. That number is on track to reach $177.5 billion by 2033. 

Despite growing investments, less than 29% of Gen-Z is interested in pursuing a STEM degree, even with early exposure to STEM education. In addition, less than half of college students who begin STEM degrees complete them. Some common reasons for degree attrition include imposter syndrome, challenging “weed out” classes, and irrelevant coursework. 

According to Andres Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), STEM classes alone may not be enough to motivate students to become engineers. Instead, he suggested that education engage and inspire students to solve real-world problems. 

“We don’t give young people a clear idea of what the destination is and what the nature of the work is,” he said. “As an engineer, you don’t sit all day in the office. You invent things, you talk with other people, you co-create, and I think those experiences are what makes this job attractive.” 

Many university programs have begun to integrate real-world, hands-on study into their approach. For example, students in Arizona State University’s Fulton Forge Student Research Expo conduct self-guided research on topics they’re personally passionate about. 

Ohio State University’s Engineering in Context – Sustainable Water Treatment: Honduras course also emphasizes this method. Through this experience, OSU engineering students from various disciplines come together to create sustainable infrastructure for water, sanitization, and hygiene in Honduras. 

“If you give students a meaningful task, they will invest themselves,” said Schleicher.

Redefining the Semiconductor Engineering Profession 

As Harald Eppinger, General Manager at Koh Young, shared with me – some careers come with the benefit of knowing the impact of your work. Doctors treat their patients, teachers educate, but what do engineers do? Their contributions aren’t always visible to the outside. 

“If someone asks me today what I’m doing, I tell them I’m saving lives,” he said.

Koh Young provides test and inspection solutions for electronic products and production processes. As Eppinger put it, the company makes sure pacemakers and airbags are working. This framing, he said, also extends to the company’s job descriptions. Instead of relying on generic verbiage, Koh Young favors more galvanizing phrasing. 

“You will become an important point of contact for your customers when analyzing and developing concepts and solutions,” its application engineer job description reads. 

Research also supports the importance of purpose around work. When employees believe their personal purpose aligns with their company’s purpose, those businesses benefit from heightened engagement and loyalty. McKinsey defines purpose in three layers.

  • Purpose from the organization, including company culture and feeling optimistic about the broader corporate direction 
  • Purpose from work, like making progress on projects that provide energy and meaning 
  • Purpose outside of work 

The study found each of these essential for employee satisfaction, but to foster a culture of purpose, companies must also prioritize what’s realistic. 

“Because of the shortage, employers will put three different jobs in one role and try to find a perfect match,” said Eppinger. “This will lead to burnout and depression.”

Recruiting Qualified Semiconductor Engineers

Even with the global engineer shortage, interested and qualified candidates may still be slipping through the cracks. During the last industry conference I attended, I met a handful of people who were seeking jobs in the industry, but they struggled to get their resumes through automatic filters. 

In 2025, around 65% of employers will use AI-powered filters to reject candidates. 

Although AI was originally introduced to streamline the hiring process, an unintended consequence is how often it blocks qualified candidates from consideration. In February 2024, the BBC published an article that addressed the role of AI on the global hiring economy, highlighting several biases in the software that increased the difficulty level of finding a job. 

With all of the industry’s efforts to build its talent pipeline, I wondered if these filters were negating any forward progress. 

Tiyada Baldwin Barnes, Head of People and Culture at Saras Micro Devices, shared that the company still reviews resumes and LinkedIn profiles. It makes the effort to understand projects candidates have worked on, rather than leaving it to a computer system. 

“We’re still old school in that mentality,” she said. “We want to understand their experience.” 

“If there’s a shortage of engineers, you don’t want to qualify candidates early on because they didn’t check one of the boxes,” said Cecilia Krojs, Head of People and Culture at Excillum, a Sweden-based company with roughly 80 employees. “I think you should only use those tools when you have the luxury of many candidates applying, but if that’s not the case, lower the threshold so you can have an open mindset when hiring.” 

With Excillum growing steadily over the last 10 years, Krojs said the company hasn’t struggled to hire qualified engineers. She cited the company’s smaller size, unique technology, and informed recruitment approach as potential reasons for its success. Excillum’s recruiters and hiring managers, she said, are also specialized in engineering organizations. 

“We know the difference between different programming languages, and we stay up-to-date on the specific hard engineering skills the company needs,” she said. 

However, regulating AI-filters and understanding the nuances of its needed engineering skills may not be sufficient on their own. Eliminating stonewalls in the application process is also paramount. 

The 2022 Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report noted that 60% of job seekers are dissatisfied by time-consuming recruitment processes and urge companies to develop a “more modern recruiting experience.” The study also found that more than 70% of job seekers will not submit a job application if it takes more than 15 minutes to complete. 

“Every once in a while, I’ll dig into other companies’ application processes to see what they offer,” said Dave Kirsch, VP and General Manager of EV Group North America. “You come up against these ‘go-or-no-go’ questions. At EV Group, we try to keep an open communication pathway that’ll allow candidates to get their information to us.” 

To Summarize 

To reach the $1 trillion industry revenue milestone, it’s up to educators and companies to work together to mitigate the engineering shortage. Because many traditional educational approaches are failing to inspire students into engineering careers, the industry may need to rely on strategies that emphasize hands-on learning, representation, and working toward meaningful goals, as opposed to lecture-based methods. 

Companies also must help engineers understand the value of their own work and respect individual contributions. Companies that foster a genuine sense of purpose around their engineering teams may have a leg up over those that don’t.  

Finally, because engineers are in short supply, companies that use AI-filters for recruiting could benefit from reducing or eliminating them entirely. 

Although the semiconductor industry has a tough job in front of it, the good news is that most of these strategies can be implemented in the relative short-term. By 2030, I hope to see the industry reach both its revenue and its workforce development goals. 

Jillian McNichol

Jillian McNichol is a technology blogger with more than seven years of experience covering a…

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