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Both Samsung and SK Hynix said they’re temporarily relocating workers from South Korea to launch their new US fabs, echoing a similar approach TSMC used when its first Arizona fab began construction in 2021. Intel, meanwhile, launched an Arizona apprenticeship program in 2024 and has committed $50 million in scholarships across more than 80 Ohio institutions near its under-construction fab, alongside a broader K-12 semiconductor education initiative launched in 2025. Samsung has run its own workforce development program since 2023, donating millions to the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and the University of Illinois to launch new chip engineering programs, plus $1 million toward technical labs at Taylor High School and over 100 internships annually.
“If you look at where advanced technology currently resides, it is in Asia,” Taylor said. “Our South Korean colleagues are here to help us start up this equipment that we don’t have a lot of experience on. ASML, the Dutch chip equipment maker, has also opened a US-based training center to help close the gap.
A new data from Mckinsey and the SEMI Foundation warns of a shortage of up to 157,000 chip workers by 2030, underscoring the urgent need for skilled engineers and technicians to support the country’s fastest chip buildout in history. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Intel are already producing advanced logic chips at new fabrication plants in Arizona, and Samsung is set to become the next major chipmaker to manufacture advanced logic in the US when production begins later this year at the first of two new fabs in Taylor, Texas — part of a $35 billion investment expected to create roughly 3,500 jobs. US chip jobs typically pay between $127,000 and $187,000, with senior roles exceeding $238,000, according to the SEMI Foundation — figures that lag behind South Korea, where chip workers are highly sought after and bonuses have ballooned above $500,000 amid strike threats at Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix, despite grueling 12-hour shifts.
As traditional software engineering roles decline due to the disruption caused by AI, universities across America are now preparing the students for careers in semiconductor manufacturing, according to a report by CNBC.
“I’m concerned,” Jon Taylor, executive vice president of Samsung’s semiconductor division in Austin, Texas, told CNBC. Separately, a Reuters report indicated SK Hynix is in talks with Intel to manufacture memory chips in the US for the first time, potentially by leasing part of Intel’s Ohio chipmaking facility, according to people familiar with the matter. “We just don’t see that there’s enough technical people in the pipeline. The shortage comes as the US undergoes its fastest chip manufacturing expansion in history, driven largely by the race to produce enough memory and logic chips to power artificial intelligence. Despite being the birthplace of the semiconductor industry and a global leader in chip design, the US has manufactured almost all advanced chips in Asia for decades — and that’s where the deepest talent pipelines remain. Micron has responded by holding expedited hiring sprees at technical universities in South Korea, interviewing and offering permanent positions to students in a single day. Pay remains a sticking point, however. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also pushed Samsung and SK Hynix to build front-end memory fabs domestically, though Taylor noted such decisions sit above his role a