Michigan higher ed leaders celebrate funding for semiconductor training

More than $3.6 million will go to support semiconductor education and training programs in metro Detroit, Michigan's state economic development agency announced Monday.

Higher education leaders gathered on Wayne State University's campus to celebrate the investment from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration, billed as the largest investment to bolster the state's semiconductor talent pipeline in Michigan history.

In short supply during the COVID-19 pandemic, a semiconductor shortage impacted a wide range of products from basic electronics to cars whose sales were stalled as vehicles awaited chips, hurting Michigan's auto industry. As part of a wave of industrial policy led by President Joe Biden's administration, Congress passed the CHIPS Act to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing with almost $53 billion in grants, with funds set aside specifically to produce the kind of chips used by the auto industry.

Michigan's economic development leaders have followed with their own investments. Monday's investment announcement from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) will provide the foundation students and workers needed to work in the state's semiconductor industry through collaborations with Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, Oakland University and Washtenaw Community College.

"What you see is really the best of Michigan: teamwork," said MEDC CEO and president Quentin Messer, Jr.

Wayne State University and the University of Michigan will use some of their funding from MEDC for hands-on workforce training programs.

"This is just amazing," said Ali Abolmaali, the dean of WSU's College of Engineering. He said that the grants will support industry-specific certificate programs that help close the gap between traditional curriculum and advancements in the evolving semiconductor industry.

Meanwhile, Washtenaw Community College will use the MEDC funding to reach out to middle and high school students to expose children to future career opportunities in the semiconductor industry and Oakland University will start a training program for those currently working in the automotive industry or other engineering fields.

Washtenaw Community College President Rose Bellanca said that the college plans to work with Ypsilanti schools and others in the area to help young learners imagine themselves working semiconductor jobs.

Federal funding: Michigan doesn't make the cut for list of new federal tech hubs

The MEDC announcement Monday isn't tied to any specific effort to land a new semiconductor facility in Michigan, Messer said.

"I mean this is connected to making sure that we're ready to have talented folks to take advantage of the opportunities that's in our existing semiconductor ecosystem," he told the Free Press. "This is a part of a longer-term strategy. This is not about a particular project, but this is understanding that if we're going to make it in Michigan, we need to make sure that we are investing in people such that we can have those critical products like a semiconductor that cut across industries."

Last year, Michigan courted the semiconductor company Micron Technology, offering roughly $28 billion in subsidies, according to records. But instead of coming to Michigan, the company intends build a new megafab in New York, an estimated $100 billion investment that will create 50,000 jobs over the next two decades.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan invests in semiconductor education and training