One U.S. university's efforts to improve knowledge of semiconductors could end up helping the country's economic rivals.
Credit: Purdue University
College applicants looking for a marketable and AI-proof education could do worse this fall than apply to Purdue. The public university in West Lafayette, Indiana, is spearheading perhaps the most exciting semiconductor education initiative in America today, offering a suite of programs from associate degrees to PhDs.
The question is: Will its graduates end up contributing more to the U.S. economy or those of its major economic rivals, chief among them China?
Purdue’s program, one of the first offered at such a scale by an American university, is aimed at training students in areas from chip design to fabrication and packaging. As record investment flows towards onshoring the semiconductor industry, such programs are becoming essential: the U.S. will need at least 40,000 trained semiconductor engineers to staff the fabs and offices expected to come online in the coming years, according to estimates by the Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group
Data: White Ho
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative under Donald Trump, reflects on his decision to launch the trade war with China and begin the process of "strategic decoupling" — a process he says the U.S. must see through to the end.
