To address these issues, the president of Germany ’s digital association Bitkom, Ralf Wintergerst, has called on the German government to fund the training of skilled workers to fill these gaps. “If we are funding the new chip factories with billions of euros of taxpayers‘ money, then we also need funding for the training of skilled workers to work there, whether from the federal government or the states,“ Wintergerst told Ippen.Media. He also urged the German government to better facilitate immigration for qualified specialists, pointing out that current administrative processes are so cumbersome that they make the country less attractive to skilled workers from abroad, Merkur.de said in a report,
When it announced its plans, Intel said Germany is an ideal place to establish a new hub – a “Silicon Junction” – for advanced chipmaking … ‘This Silicon Junction will serve as the connection point for other centers of innovation and manufacturing across the country and region.” When training people to work in its new Magdeburg mega-fab, Intel intends to send local trainees to a factory it operates in Ireland as part of their apprenticeship programme, as there are at present no suitable local facilities, the WSJ reported.
Germany is not the only country facing labour shortages in the area of microchip production. Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC recently delayed the start of production at its new plant in Arizona, USA until 2025 (instead of the original goal of 2024) due to a shortage of skilled labour. In an earnings call in July, the company confirmed it planned to bring in trained technicians from Taiwan to train local workers to help accelerate installation.