Research Finder
Find by Keyword
Is GlobalFoundries Building Tomorrow's Workforce While Others Fight Over Talent?
New York’s RPI expands its partnership with GlobalFoundries, using innovative programs and region-focused infrastructure to target U.S. semiconductor workforce shortages of up to 146,000 by 2030
2/12/2025
Key Highlights:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and GlobalFoundries launched a partnership focused on semiconductor workforce development as well as high-end research
The announcement expands on four years of collaboration, GF-taught curriculum serving nearly 200 students and GF placed 150+ RPI alumni at its facilities
GF endowed two Dean's Faculty Fellows and supports RPI's Community College Scholars Program, signaling commitment to alternative talent pathways beyond traditional four-year degrees
RPI's new 6,000 square-foot Semiconductor CoLab at Albany NanoTech Complex co-locates with GF's significant fab presence, creating integrated research and workforce development infrastructure
The need is real, the semiconductor industry as a whole is projected to require 1 million additional workers worldwide by 2030
The News
This week, RPI and GlobalFoundries formalized a strategic partnership that builds upon four years of collaboration in semiconductor research, education, and workforce development. Under the partnership, the company names RPI as a strategic university partner and incorporates GF into RPI's Industry Engagement Program. GF has endowed two Dean's Faculty Fellows in RPI's School of Engineering and supports the Community College Scholars Program, while industry experts from GF lead Microelectronics Manufacturing courses that have engaged nearly 200 students over four years. The partnership aims to expand into joint faculty exchanges and cutting-edge R&D initiatives, building on RPI's new 6,000 square-foot Semiconductor CoLab at NY Creates' Albany NanoTech Complex where GF maintains significant manufacturing operations. Find out more: https://gf.com/gf-press-release/rpi-and-globalfoundries-partner-on-semiconductor-research-education-and-workforce-development-initiatives/
Analyst Take
This announcement reads less like a traditional university-industry partnership and more like an admission that the industry's traditional talent acquisition playbook has failed. When you have 150 RPI alumni already working at GlobalFoundries and you're formalizing a relationship that's been running for four years, you're not announcing a partnership. You're building a lifeboat as the industry scrambles for talent.
Globally, the semiconductor industry has a one-million additional skilled worker shortfall projected by 2030. In the U.S. gaps ranging from 76,000 to 146,000 workers are expected in multiple analyst reports. These analyses were largely conducted before current geopolitical and domestic capacity concerns created the potential for that domestic shortfall to increase. Against this need, traditional educational pipelines are delivering only about 1,500 engineers annually to the semiconductor industry, representing just 3% of engineering graduates. This is against the 88,000 new semiconductor engineers McKinsey projects will be required by 2029. The evolution of the RPI-GlobalFoundries relationship demonstrates both parties recognize that incremental improvements to existing models won't come close to closing those gaps.
What strikes me about this partnership is its focus on infrastructure rather than announcements. RPI's 6,000 square-foot Semiconductor CoLab at Albany NanoTech Complex positions researchers and students in physical proximity to GF's fabs and the broader ecosystem of companies operating at the complex. This co-location model inverts the traditional paradigm where students graduate and then relocate to manufacturing centers. Instead, they're being trained where the manufacturing actually happens, with GF experts teaching courses and students taking field trips to operational fabs during their education.
The four-year track record matters here. Nearly 200 students have gone through GF-led Microelectronics Manufacturing courses. That's not a pilot program anymore. It's a proven production line for talent, and the formalization through RPI's Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation suggests both institutions view this as scalable infrastructure rather than experimental programming.
What Was Announced
The partnership encompasses several components that transform informal collaboration into institutional commitment. GF endowed two Dean's Faculty Fellows in RPI's School of Engineering, recognizing mid-career faculty working in chips and semiconductors. Endowing fellowships is an indicator of GF's willingness to fund the infrastructure of academic research rather than harvesting completed research. The endowments should enable RPI to retain faculty who might otherwise depart for industry or competing institutions. That keeps the expertise in the New York State Capital Region.
GF's support for RPI's Community College Scholars Program is the kind of unconventional play that could accelerate the closure of those worker shortfalls. Very similar to the aerospace community college programs in the 1960s and 1970s, community colleges have emerged as critical pathways for semiconductor technician training. These more focused programs create faster and more affordable routes to employment than traditional four-year degrees. The need for workers is real, today only about 1,000 new semiconductor technicians enter the field annually - against the demand expectation of 75,000 by 2029. GF's support for these community college entry points indicates that the company sees the technician shortage may turn out to be even more challenging than the engineer shortage. Solutions at both levels require proactive engagement across the spectrum of education, from certificates to doctorates.
The curricular development initiative brings GF industry experts directly into RPI classrooms for Microelectronics Manufacturing courses. These courses include field trips to GF's fabs, providing students with exposure to actual production environments while they're still in school. This approach addresses one of the industry's persistent challenges: traditional semiconductor education often focuses on theory and design while manufacturing expertise remains tacit knowledge held by experienced fab workers. By bringing students into fabs early, GF and RPI aim to reduce the knowledge gap that typically requires years of on-the-job training.
The university’s Semiconductor CoLab at Albany NanoTech Complex hosts as many as 40 researchers, faculty, and visiting scholars. Co-locating various research offices and seminar/classroom space drives an environment that fosters collaborative investigation and education. The CoLab’s location in the Zero Energy Nanotechnology (ZEN) facility puts RPI researchers in close proximity to GF operations. That creates the potential for daily interaction bridging academic and industry perspectives.
Market Analysis
The partnership timing is an indicator that the industry recognizes the limitations of traditional talent acquisition strategies. Since its peak in 2000, the U.S. semiconductor workforce has declined 43% even as the industry growth projections by 2030 are up more than 80% with the expectation of $1 trillion in annual revenue. Addressing such a workforce contraction in the face of market expansion was going to be tough even before political changes in favor of domestic semiconductor manufacturing, as well as increased scrutiny on visa programs and other traditional talent acquisition strategies. This is a structural crisis, instead of a cyclical dip.
Regional clustering around manufacturing capacity represents an emerging alternative to the traditional Silicon Valley model of concentrating design expertise far from production facilities. New York's Capital Region benefits from what RPI President Martin Schmidt characterizes as an "unfair advantage": decades of countercyclical investment while other regions offshored production. IBM's East Fishkill facility, Albany NanoTech Complex, and GF's Malta fab created an existing ecosystem that new CHIPS Act funding is now reinforcing. Micron's planned Syracuse facility adds to this regional concentration.
According to the company, GF's university partnership strategy extends beyond RPI to include strategic relationships with Purdue, Georgia Tech, Vermont, and participation in MIT's Industrial Liaison Program. GF works with more than 80 universities, 110 professors, and 600 students through its University Partnership Program, which provides access to the company's differentiated technologies and engineering support. However, the RPI partnership appears differentiated by its emphasis on workforce development infrastructure rather than purely research collaboration. The four-year curriculum program and Community College Scholars Program support suggest GF views RPI as a production pathway for talent, not just a source of research insights.
The broader industry has recognized the inadequacy of traditional pipelines. Intel created a stackable, shareable, and transferable one-year semiconductor technician certificate program with Ohio community colleges. The Last Mile Education Fund launched a Semiconductor Pathways Fund in November 2025 to address the 14,000 students who drop out annually from technical programs due to modest financial setbacks. These initiatives spotlight the multiple dimensions of this talent shortage: insufficient students attracted to the programs, students who struggle to complete programs, and graduates out of step with actual manufacturing environment requirements.
The RPI-GF approach seems different in its sustained, institutionalized collaboration - instead of more typical episodic interventions. An endowed faculty position is a long-term commitment. The four-year curriculum track record demonstrates repeatability. The Semiconductor CoLab provides permanent physical infrastructure. These elements suggest both institutions are building for decade-long talent development rather than short-term hiring needs.
Looking Ahead
Based on what I am observing, the RPI-GlobalFoundries partnership will be tested not by its ability to produce incremental talent - both entities are known for that already. The key question in my mind is whether regional ecosystem models like this one can effectively compete with concentrated talent markets for retaining graduates upon completion. The Capital Region offers established infrastructure, but is challenged by New York’s higher costs, bureaucracy and state tax rates compared to destinations in Texas and Arizona. Graduates still face pull from lower cost-of-living and higher-salary markets. That said, Micron's planned Syracuse facility and ongoing Albany NanoTech Complex expansion (including $410 million NanoFab Reflection building) suggest Capital Region semiconductor opportunity going forward. The partnership's success depends on whether GF and the broader Albany ecosystem can demonstrate career progression demonstrably competitive with traditional semiconductor hubs.
The governance structure through RPI's Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation may prove as important as the programmatic initiatives. OSAT provides institutional continuity independent of individual faculty or corporate relationships, addressing one of the persistent weaknesses of university-industry partnerships: they often depend on personal relationships rather than durable organizational structures.
My analysis suggests we'll see more partnerships following the infrastructure-first model that RPI and GF have established. The co-location of academic facilities at manufacturing complexes, integration of industry experts into curriculum development, and explicit engagement with community college pathways represent a playbook that other regional clusters are likely to adopt. The alternative - continuing to fight over a shrinking pool of traditionally educated candidates or inbound visa holders - has already demonstrated its limitations. The industry either builds new talent pipelines or constrains its growth ambitions. RPI and GlobalFoundries have chosen to build.
Stephen Sopko | Analyst-in-Residence – Semiconductors & Deep Tech
Stephen Sopko is an Analyst-in-Residence specializing in semiconductors and the deep technologies powering today’s innovation ecosystem. With decades of executive experience spanning Fortune 100, government, and startups, he provides actionable insights by connecting market trends and cutting-edge technologies to business outcomes.
Stephen’s expertise in analyzing the entire buyer’s journey, from technology acquisition to implementation, was refined during his tenure as co-founder and COO of Palisade Compliance, where he helped Fortune 500 clients optimize technology investments. His ability to identify opportunities at the intersection of semiconductors, emerging technologies, and enterprise needs makes him a sought-after advisor to stakeholders navigating complex decisions.