Iowa State's semiconductor workshop is part of a year-long effort to help students understand semiconductors and AI hardware. AMES, Iowa – The students had ticked off the step-by-step boxes running down the guide for their first microfabrication lab of the first summer semiconductor workshop at Iowa State University. Providing that opportunity is a major goal of the new, year-long, semiconductor-training program established at Iowa State earlier this year. In their grant proposal, the Iowa State semiconductor team wrote about the workforce needs of the semiconductor industry: “Industry projections suggest that there will be approximately 67,100 unfilled technical jobs in the U.S. chip industry by 2030. Cheng Wang, an Iowa State assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, will also mentor students on artificial intelligence hardware.