The percentage of women in the semiconductor industry is low. According to a report released in April, Report of 51 percent companies Less than 20 percent of their technical roles filled by women. At the same time, less of these companies were publicly committed to equal opportunity measures compared to the year in 2024, the same report was received.
Lack of support comes at the same time when lack of major workforce is expected, Andrea MohammedCOO and co-founder QuantmblumWhich helps companies to attract, maintain, and pursue the initial career in STEM. Company Higher education focuses on the workforce infection, an important point during which many women leave the stem.
IEEE spectrum Talked to Mohammad about supporting women in semiconductor jobs, and a retreat from these initiatives why there is a hindrance with the needs of the industry.
On Andrea Mohammed:
Tell me about your approach as a returning veteran of the semiconductor industry.
Andrea Mohammed: I worked for a semiconductor startup company 20 years ago, and it was very male dominated. Now, it still dominates many men. Looking at the semiconductor industry with fresh eyes, what I see is an industry that has not developed quickly as other stem-intensive industries. I have worked for science and research-oriented organizations, and the progress made in other fields is not made in this particular field.
Mohammed: On a macro scale, you have an industry that is facing a lot of geopolitical and economic forces that are inhibiting the entire supply chain ecosystem around the semiconductor, and a push to resume and resume the coast. There are lots of infrastructure gaps in doing so, one of them is a workforce component. It is not just a semiconductor that is ready to resume and serve to the United States, it is also pharmaceuticals and automotive. And all this is going to continue to pressurize the supply and demand curve, if you do around labor.
The stem education pipeline has a huge amount of attention, and is fine. China and India are producing stem graduates at one rate, with which we are not keeping pace. While we have focused on STEM education pipeline, there is little focus on what the industry is doing within companies to solve the challenges of the workforce.
There is a lot of additional concern about corporate cultures, burn-end cyclic nature, policies, which seem chronic relative to other industries, in which it is related to hair care. The industry is very clearly clear to education what it requires the next generation from a skill’s perspective. But we do not affect the voice of the next generation worker how the industry is attracting them. We have been started to see how to identify the industry how it is in its own way when it comes to workforce development.
It seems that the problem is beyond the “drip pipeline” which is often discussed.
Mohammed: Correct. We keep talking about the pipeline dripping for all these stages of women. It begins in a middle school, when girls begin to have interest and confidence in stem. There is a leak in every stage. And then you reach the stage of this early career, on which quantumblum is centered, and it is a bucket. We are losing a ton, and we are all thinking about pouring more water into the bucket, when in fact, we need to fix the hole. There is a lot of discussion about what women, color people, other communities are going to draw in semiconductor workforce, and very little on fixing the hole.
Often the initial career experience is very much sink or swimming for everyone regardless of the penis. We know with women, it is more likely they leave.
I think the semiconductor industry can actually achieve re -achieving in these areas. Can you talk about that?
Mohammed: Latest report that came out Global semiconductor alliance And the accenture On the status of women and semiconductorFor me, the coal is like a canary in the mine. We are seeing a decrease in public commitments for diversity and the progress we have made around the programs that we support women. It is a counter -protest that we are reducing support at this time when we need to draw this audience into the industry.
I understand the pressures that companies are facing anything related to dei. We need to change the conversation in talent management from Dei. This is retention and avoiding the cost of turnover. It is about the requirement of every available luxurious mind in the United States that wants to be in a semiconductor. We have closed this industry for so long. Other countries have current talent hideouts. We have to build it.
So the industry should work on these initiatives to build better workplaces, whether they have been labeled as promoting diversity?
Mohammed: I think there was a lot of desert activity protesters. Many companies were not really committed to creating a great workplace for everyone. I think Dei is part of the reason for politicization. It is a belief that people were given opportunities which were not based on merit. What I am saying is that this is not a qualification conversation, right? Women are graduating with bachelor’s degree At higher rates than men And is growing. In fact, it is about human capital development. You have women who are getting out of your industry, AND you have to recognize and pay attention to the unique living experience of women in these environments to solve the problem.
So there are semantics in all this, but it is not just relaying. It is about business. You are not going to be able to compete on a global platform in the United States if you are not looking for ways to attract and maintain new communities of workers, and women are one of those communities. This means what women need from their employer, because if you do not provide it, they will go somewhere else. Regarding anxiety by companies, if they run a program like Quantmbblum, does it pose a risk? This is a wrong question about the risk. Your big risk is that your fab is empty, because you cannot find workers and cannot maintain them.
What have you seen in other industries, and what can a semiconductor leader learn from them?
Mohammed: Many women whose roots are in engineering, are working potentially in a technical organization, but not in technical roles. You also see them in completely different industries. They go to business school, they become an advisor, they go to law school.
Among other industries, there are organizations that are very deliberate about attracting and maintaining their youngest talent. They are dedicated to resources to invest in them, which is very rare – most organizations invest more and more. In fact, we need to think about flipping that script and investing more quickly.
Andrea Mohammad is COO and co-founder of Quantumblum, a professional development company focused on women in STEM.Andrea Mohammed
When I think about the solutions led by the employer around the talent of the initial career, what comes to mind, the trainee, rotational program and leadership skill development-all things that you have not taught in school, but it is really important for your success. These are skills that you take with you for the whole career. When you invest in the top, most of the time people say, “I wish, it would have happened in my 20s.” I don’t see MAny Ofesee solution Being used In this industry. I have recently heard that one of the big semiconductor giants in this country used to be an engineering rotational program and stopped it five years ago. I was talking to a person who was in that program and how important it was in his early career experience.
What are other steps that you think are important for semiconductor leaders?
Mohammed: Quantumblums solve things are very early career and focus on individuals. At the same time, companies need to think about top-down culture change and industry change. They are long to fix horizon things.
People join companies and leave the owners. Relationship with your boss is so important. You can culturally be in a relatively terrible outfit and be a wonderful owner, and you can achieve career success. Conversely, you can be in a terrible corporate culture with a terrible boss and not thrive. If we can improve that primary work relationship, create more sympathy for each other’s experiences at the local level, we can improve the results and retention of the work. And then things start spreading. The manager who can support a particular woman in our program learn skills and equipment that is more inclusive leader who is spread beyond the woman.
We are doing so at that local level, but man, companies actually need to address top-down changes and culture changes. At the end of the day, we need semiconductor leaders to imagine becoming a magnet for all talents, and then commit the necessary resources and organizational changes to create that vision reality.
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