Fall 2026 15 SEMICONDUCTORS exports and innovation. OSU’s history of helping to drive that ecosystem made it the project’s natural leader. More than 40 OSU faculty have expertise in semiconductors, leading research and collaborating with companies to advance chip design, performance and manufacturing. The university offers semiconductor workforce development programs, including online degrees and certificates. And for decades, OSU graduates have staffed semiconductor companies in Oregon and beyond. “Oregon’s semiconductor leadership was built through decades of innovation and collaboration,” said Gaby Cruz Thompson, research manager at Intel Labs. “To remain competitive for decades to come, we must continue investing in the ecosystem that makes that success possible.We see the FAST coalition, led by OSU, as an important convener of this work.” The award arrives as global deBY THE NUMBERS The Oregon State-led FAST initiative will bring as much as $160 MILLION of new federal investment over 10 years to the state. new jobs added to the region. new startups launched. 25,000 180 The Oregon semiconductor sector is currently worth $21 BILLION and employs nearly 30,000 WORKERS. ↙ The OSU-led FAST project brings together a wide variety of partners, including the tech companies Intel, NVIDIA, Siemens, HP and Tektronix. mand for semiconductors is rising rapidly, in large part because of artificial intelligence. At the same time, federal investment has expanded, and states are competing to attract and retain high-tech jobs. OSU launched FAST in 2022 to seize this opportunity. A year later, the consortium received $1 million from the NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines program to further build partnerships and develop initiatives focused on research and preparing students for jobs in the semiconductor industry. In 2024, NSF advanced FAST to the full proposal stage, allowing the team to compete for the award. With the new funding, FAST will focus on three key priorities: • Identifying the semiconductor industry’s needs and accelerating research to meet them. • Helping startups by connecting entrepreneurs, investors and semiconductor companies. • Preparing workers for an industry that increasingly needs people with AI skills. Early momentum is already visible. Initial funding from NSF, combined with $8.5 million from the state, has supported: new workforce training programs that allow technicians in the industry to acquire additional skills; industry-backed research projects for scientists at OSU and the University of Oregon; and the creation of Oregon Semi Central, a website connecting Oregonians with semiconductor career, training and education opportunities. Pallavi Dhagat, an electrical engineer in OSU’s College of Engineering, has been involved with FAST from the beginning. She thinks the progress is encouraging but is most motivated by the long-term vision. “I have friends in Silicon Valley,” she said. “There, you lose your job, you walk down the road and you find another job. Or you start something new.That culture of innovation, where failure becomes a stepping stone, is what I hope to see here.” FAST GOALS FOR YEAR 10
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