Human Fabs For Silicon Fabs

Between August and September, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks all visited Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. A recurrent theme of these trips? Semiconductors.

The human side of this critical industry — crucial to national security and to economic security — led the discussions. As Blinken said: “Purdue University has got to be one of the leading, if not the leading, human fabs for the next generation of people who are going to lead this country into the technological future, into the scientific future, and into the innovative future.”

Five months ago, Purdue launched the Semiconductor Degrees Program (SDP), an inter-disciplinary set of degrees that encompass the entire supply chain. Earlier this month, Purdue kicked off its first Semiconductor Degrees Leadership Board meeting. That took place the same week the Department of Defense semiconductor workforce program and Navy Crane awarded Purdue-led SCALE consortium additional funding, a national research center on brain-inspired computing convened its five-year review, and an industry-funded research center on secure microelectronics ecosystems carried out its first in-person annual meeting.