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Tuxedo Computers: linuxový software na míru přímo od výrobce

ROOT.cz - 16 Květen, 2024 - 00:00
Zkusil jsem si objednat „zakázkový“ linuxový hardware a software z Německa. Dodaný notebook jsem již popsal. Co ale dodávaná linuxová distribuce Tuxedo OS? Jak se liší od Ubuntu, ze kterého vychází?
Kategorie: GNU/Linux & BSD

Emergence: struktury vzniklé ze zdánlivého chaosu

ROOT.cz - 16 Květen, 2024 - 00:00
V některých dynamických systémech mohou i na základě aplikace mnohdy velmi jednoduchých pravidel vznikat složitější emergentní struktury. Dnes si jeden takový systém nazývaný ParticleLife popíšeme a naprogramujeme.
Kategorie: GNU/Linux & BSD

Inovace a kreativita na Maker Faire v Praze: roboti, špagetové mosty a 3D tisk

ROOT.cz - 16 Květen, 2024 - 00:00
Na pražském Výstavišti se v rámci oblíbeného Maker Fairu o tomto víkendu rozprostřely čtyři pavilony a několik venkovních ploch, kde se sešlo okolo 800 kreativních vynálezců a téměř 12 tisíc návštěvníků z různých věkových skupin.
Kategorie: GNU/Linux & BSD

Dech Belzebuba

OSEL.cz - 16 Květen, 2024 - 00:00
Romantika zpříjemněná lahvinkou dobrého moku je něco, na co se rádo vzpomíná, pokud to ovšem nezhatí něco, na co pak rovněž nezapomíná.
Kategorie: Věda a technika

Značení mobilních Ryzenů U / HS / H končí

CD-R server - 16 Květen, 2024 - 00:00
Podle zástupce společnosti Lenovo končí AMD s rozlišováním tří variant mobilních APU: U, HS a H. Dělení sice mělo historické opodstatnění, ale v poslední době ztrácí smysl…
Kategorie: IT News

Bezpečnostní chyby v produktech od Intelu – 05/2024. Mikrokód 20240514

AbcLinuxu [zprávičky] - 15 Květen, 2024 - 23:11
Intel vydal 41 upozornění na bezpečnostní chyby ve svých produktech. Současně vydal verzi 20240514 mikrokódů pro své procesory řešící INTEL-SA-01051, INTEL-SA-01052 a INTEL-SA-01036.
Kategorie: GNU/Linux & BSD

Senators propose $32B on AI spending without firm regulatory oversight

Computerworld.com [Hacking News] - 15 Květen, 2024 - 22:41

A bipartisan group of four US Senators on Wednesday recommended Congress allocate $32 billion during the next three years to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and to put in place regulatory guardrails around it.

Led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), two Democrats and two Republicans developed a 33-page report of recommendations that appeared to fall short of any actual legislation to reign in the fast-evolving, disruptive technology. The senators have been working on the proposal for about a year.

Their plan would ask Congress to increase funding for AI innovation by “at least” $32 billion per year “in order to propel US leadership in AI, maintain our global competitiveness, and perform cutting-edge AI research and development.”

The proposal also calls for enforcement of “existing laws for AI,” including addressing any gaps or unintended harmful bias; prioritizing the development of standards for testing to understand potential AI harms; “and developing use case-specific requirements for AI transparency and explainability.”

The report recommends also establishing a federal data privacy framework and mitigating the threat of potential long-term risk scenarios.

“No technology offers more promise to our modern world than artificial intelligence,” Schumer said in a statement. “But AI also presents a host of new policy challenges. Harnessing the potential of AI demands an all-hands-on-deck approach and that’s exactly what our bipartisan AI working group has been leading.”

Ritu Jyoti, group vice president at IDC for AI research, said it’s important to note is that the roadmap does not specifically propose actual legislation around AI, “but the document serves more to plant a stake in a lot of general ideas.”

“As we all know, the AI industry is moving faster than the rest of the technology sector and outpaces the federal government by several orders of magnitude,” Jyoti said. “Although the priorities listed in the document are judicious, it makes one wonder if any concrete action could be taken in a foreseeable timeline. Perhaps some actionable guidance for copyright concerns and which would immediately require safety evaluations for all current and future AI models would have been nice.”

In March, the European Union passed the world’s first comprehensive AI law, aimed at regulating the makers and vendors of AI technology. The European Union AI Act received an overwhelmingly favorable vote.  The law created a number of safeguards on general purpose AI, limits the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement, bans online social scoring and AI to manipulate or exploit user vulnerabilities, and gives consumers the right to launch complaints and get “meaningful explanations” from AI providers.

In the US, the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group — comprising Sens. Schumer, Mike Rounds (R-SD),  Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Todd Young (R-IN) — released an AI policy roadmap summarizing their findings. The report also lays out policy topics the group believes merit bipartisan committee consideration in Congress. 

The AI Working Group is not the first to attempt to wrangle in the fast pace of generative AI (genAI) and general AI development and adoption. In February, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) enlisted more than 200 companies and organizations to participate in the AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC) to devise guidelines for ensuring the safety of AI systems.

Amazon.com, Carnegie Mellon University, Duke University, the Free Software Foundation, and Visa are all members of AISIC, as well as several major developers of AI tools, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

To date, no single, comprehensive piece of legislation has addressed the many security, copyright, privacy and safety issues raised by the use of AI technology. Heinrich said the Senate AI Working Group’s proposal defines a clear roadmap to “unlock AI innovation… and help maintain” US leadership in the space.

“Most importantly, the roadmap lays out the guardrails necessary to mitigate the risks of AI — from blocking corporations from trying to use American’s data against them, to safeguarding the work of creative professionals and protecting workers’ jobs by preventing the automation of tasks that only should be done by humans. Now it’s time for the Senate to act on these recommendations,” Heinrich said in a joint statement with the other group’s members.

Generative AI, Government, Regulation
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Raspberry Pi chystá IPO a vstup na Londýnskou burzu

AbcLinuxu [zprávičky] - 15 Květen, 2024 - 21:19
Společnost Raspberry Pi patřící nadaci Raspberry Pi chystá IPO a vstup na Londýnskou burzu.
Kategorie: GNU/Linux & BSD

Meta signals the end of the road for Workplace

Computerworld.com [Hacking News] - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:59

Meta has outlined plans to retire Workplace, the enterprise social network it launched in 2016. 

Customers can continue to use the app until August 2025, after which access will be read-only. Workplace will then be decommissioned entirely in June 2026. 

The launch of Workplace eight years ago was Meta’s — then Facebook — first major foray into enterprise software, arriving amid a surge of interest in digital workplace tools lead by team chat app Slack. Workplace is essentially a business-friendly version of the Facebook consumer social network, with features such as group chat, live video, and knowledge library.

 In addition to desk workers, Workplace has in recent years been pitched at frontline workers. 

Despite negative perceptions about Facebook’s handling of consumer user data, it was successful in attracting many large enterprise firms to Workplace, including Astra Zeneca, McDonald’s, and Walmart. There were 7 million individual paid Workplace subscribers, according to Meta’s most recently published figures from 2021

Nevertheless, Workplace makes up only a small proportion of the compny’s overall revenues and the software has clearly fallen down the priority list; development of new Workplace features has been at a virtual standstill for the past year or two. 

Meta has been quiet on Workplace for a while, said Beth Schultz, vice president of research and principal analyst at Metrigy. “So from that respect, the writing was on the wall, so to speak, especially considering the full-out effort the company is making on AI and metaverse initiatives,” she said.

One of the challenges Meta faced with Workplace involves its positioning in a fast-changing market for business communication tools. “Workplace by Meta straddled different technology markets,” said Mike Gotta, Gartner vice president analyst. On one hand, it had roots in the enterprise social networking market that had begun to wane by the time Workplace launched, with businesses often citing low uptake by staff.

Workplace was also positioned as an enterprise communications app, where it mainly served as a place for employees to interact with internal communications. “The market here supports a diverse set of vendors, making it difficult for a vendor to be impactful with its marketing effort,” said Gotta. “To be effective, vendors really need to maintain a market presence that demonstrations uptake, innovation, and business impact. A thriving partner program can also help with a vendor’s land-and-expand strategy.”

With so many options available, companies that are inconsistent with marketing and partner strategies can struggle, he said. “To be effective in the enterprise space, vendors really must focus and commit to the unique needs of businesses,” said Gotta. “Vendors that are largely devoted to consumer markets may not want to sustain that focus.”

Meta provided the following timeline for migration away from Workplace, according to a post on the Workplace admin site:

  • Until Aug. 31, 2025, users will be able to continue using Workplace as usual.
  • Sept. 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026: Workplace will only be accessible to read and download existing data.
  • June 1, 2026: User access will be terminated and a user’s Workplace will be deleted.

 “We understand that this decision will be disruptive to the businesses, organizations and partners that rely on Workplace every day,” Meta said. “Our priority is to make the transition as smooth as we can.”

Workplace customers are being encouraged to migrate to “preferred partner” Workvivo — the employee experience app acquired by Zoom last year. 

“It’s our top priority to support customers through this transition, and our team is working to make this process as frictionless as possible,” John Goulding, Workvivo CEO and founder, said in a statement Tuesday. “We put our customers first, and this will be no different for the Workplace from Meta customers.”

On the upside, said Schultz, Meta seems to have given customers a good amount of time to migrate, “although it’s not clear how much, if any, help they’ll provide in the process.” 

For companies that rely heavily on Workplace, the migration presents a “big change [and] management challenge,” said Schultz, with “disruption in how employees engage with each other and build cultural connection.

“Workvivo is a solid choice, but Workplace customers will need to do their due diligence on the platform before committing to its use,” she said. “This is a good reminder for enterprises, too, to be very clear with vendors about their support for data migration to a new platform.”

There are other options worth considering besides Workvivo, Gotta said. “There are a variety of vendors such as Microsoft with Viva Engage as well as intranet packaged solution vendors that have similar capabilities to Workplace by Meta.”

Collaboration Software, Facebook, Productivity Software
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

FBI Seizes BreachForums Again, Urges Users to Report Criminal Activity

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:52
Law enforcement agencies have officially seized control of the notorious BreachForums platform, an online bazaar known for peddling stolen data, for the second time within a year. The website ("breachforums[.]st") has been replaced by a seizure banner stating the clearnet cybercrime forum is under the control of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  The operation is the
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

FBI Seizes BreachForums Again, Urges Users to Report Criminal Activity

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:52
Law enforcement agencies have officially seized control of the notorious BreachForums platform, an online bazaar known for peddling stolen data, for the second time within a year. The website ("breachforums[.]st") has been replaced by a seizure banner stating the clearnet cybercrime forum is under the control of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  The operation is theNewsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Improving cyber defense with open source SIEM and XDR

The Register - Anti-Virus - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:10
Developing an effective strategy is a continuous process which requires recurring evaluation and refinement

Partner Content  A cyber defense strategy outlines policies, procedures, and technologies to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber attacks. This helps avoid financial loss, reputational damage, and legal repercussions.…

Kategorie: Viry a Červi

Google Launches AI-Powered Theft and Data Protection Features for Android Devices

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:00
Google has announced a slew of privacy and security features in Android, including a suite of advanced protection features to help secure users' devices and data in the event of a theft. These features aim to help protect data before, during and after a theft attempt, the tech giant said, adding they are expected to be available via an update to Google Play services for devices running
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Android 15 Rolls Out Advanced Features to Protect Users from Scams and Malicious Apps

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:00
Google is unveiling a set of new features in Android 15 to prevent malicious apps installed on the device from capturing sensitive data. This constitutes an update to the Play Integrity API that third-party app developers can take advantage of to secure their applications against malware. "Developers can check if there are other apps running that could be capturing the screen, creating
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Google Launches AI-Powered Theft and Data Protection Features for Android Devices

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:00
Google has announced a slew of privacy and security features in Android, including a suite of advanced protection features to help secure users' devices and data in the event of a theft. These features aim to help protect data before, during and after a theft attempt, the tech giant said, adding they are expected to be available via an update to Google Play services for devices runningNewsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Android 15 Rolls Out Advanced Features to Protect Users from Scams and Malicious Apps

The Hacker News - 15 Květen, 2024 - 19:00
Google is unveiling a set of new features in Android 15 to prevent malicious apps installed on the device from capturing sensitive data. This constitutes an update to the Play Integrity API that third-party app developers can take advantage of to secure their applications against malware. "Developers can check if there are other apps running that could be capturing the screen, creatingNewsroomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]
Kategorie: Hacking & Security

I/O 2024: What’s new in Android security and privacy

Google Security Blog - 15 Květen, 2024 - 18:59
Posted by Dave Kleidermacher, VP Engineering, Android Security and Privacy

Our commitment to user safety is a top priority for Android. We’ve been consistently working to stay ahead of the world’s scammers, fraudsters and bad actors. And as their tactics evolve in sophistication and scale, we continually adapt and enhance our advanced security features and AI-powered protections to help keep Android users safe.

In addition to our new suite of advanced theft protection features to help keep your device and data safe in the case of theft, we’re also focusing increasingly on providing additional protections against mobile financial fraud and scams.

Today, we’re announcing more new fraud and scam protection features coming in Android 15 and Google Play services updates later this year to help better protect users around the world. We’re also sharing new tools and policies to help developers build safer apps and keep their users safe.

Google Play Protect live threat detection

Google Play Protect now scans 200 billion Android apps daily, helping keep more than 3 billion users safe from malware. We are expanding Play Protect’s on-device AI capabilities with Google Play Protect live threat detection to improve fraud and abuse detection against apps that try to cloak their actions.

With live threat detection, Google Play Protect’s on-device AI will analyze additional behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services. If suspicious behavior is discovered, Google Play Protect can send the app to Google for additional review and then warn users or disable the app if malicious behavior is confirmed. The detection of suspicious behavior is done on device in a privacy preserving way through Private Compute Core, which allows us to protect users without collecting data. Google Pixel, Honor, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Sharp, Transsion, and other manufacturers are deploying live threat detection later this year.

Stronger protections against fraud and scams

We’re also bringing additional protections to fight fraud and scams in Android 15 with two key enhancements to safeguard your information and privacy from bad apps:

  • Protecting One-time Passwords from Malware: With the exception of a few types of apps, such as wearable companion apps, one-time passwords are now hidden from notifications, closing a common attack vector for fraud and spyware.
  • Expanded Restricted Settings: To help protect more sensitive permissions that are commonly abused by fraudsters, we’re expanding Android 13’s restricted settings, which require additional user approval to enable permissions when installing an app from an Internet-sideloading source (web browsers, messaging apps or file managers).

We are continuing to develop new, AI-powered protections, like the scam call detection capability that we’re testing, which uses on-device Gemini-Nano AI to warn users in real-time when it detects conversation patterns commonly associated with fraud and scams.

Protecting against screen-sharing social engineering attacks

We’re also tightening controls for screen sharing in Android 15 to limit social engineering attacks that try to view your screen and steal information, while introducing new safeguards to further shield your sensitive information:

  • Automatically Hidden Notifications and One-time Passwords (OTPs): During screen sharing, private notification content will be hidden, preventing remote viewers from seeing details in a user's notifications. Apps that post OTPs in notifications will be automatically protected from remote viewers when you’re screen sharing, helping thwart attempts to steal sensitive data.
  • Safer Logins: Your screen will be hidden when you enter credentials like usernames, passwords and credit card numbers during a screen-share session.
  • Choose What You Share: Currently available on Pixel, other Android devices will also have the ability to share just one app's content rather than your whole screen to help preserve your screen privacy.

Having clear content sharing indicators is important for users to understand when their data is visible. A new, more prominent screen indicator coming to Android devices later this year will always let you know when screen sharing is active, and you can stop sharing with a simple tap.

Advanced cellular security to fight fraud and surveillance

We’re adding new advanced cellular protections in Android 15 to defend against abuse by criminals using cell site simulators to snoop on users or send them SMS-based fraud messages.

  • Cellular Cipher Transparency: We’ll notify you if your cellular network connection is unencrypted, potentially exposing voice and SMS traffic to radio interception, and potentially visible to others. This can help warn users if they’re being targeted by criminals who are trying to intercept their traffic or inject a fraud SMS message.
  • Identifier Disclosure Transparency: We’ll help at risk-users like journalists or dissidents by alerting them if a potential false cellular base station or surveillance tool is recording their location using a device identifier.

These features require device OEM integration and compatible hardware. We are working with the Android ecosystem to bring these features to users. We expect OEM adoption to progress over the next couple of years.

More security tools for developers to fight fraud and scams

Safeguarding apps from scams and fraud is an ongoing battle for developers. The Play Integrity API lets developers check that their apps are unmodified and running on a genuine Android device so that they can detect fraudulent or risky behavior and take actions to prevent attacks and abuse. We’ve updated the API with new in-app signals to help developers secure their apps against new threats:

  • Risk From Screen Capturing or Remote Access: Developers can check if there are other apps running that could be capturing the screen, creating overlays, or controlling the device. This is helpful for apps that want to hide sensitive information from other apps and protect users from scams.
  • Risk From Known Malware: Developers can check if Google Play Protect is active and the user device is free of known malware before performing sensitive actions or handling sensitive data. This is particularly valuable for financial and banking apps, adding another layer of security to protect user information.
  • Risk From Anomalous Devices: Developers can also opt-in to receive recent device activity to check if a device is making too many integrity checks, which could be a sign of an attack.

Developers can decide how their apps respond to these signals, such as prompting the user to close risky apps or turn on Google Play Protect before continuing.

Upgraded policies and tools for developers to enhance user privacy

We’re working to make photo permissions even more private for users. Starting this year, apps on Play must demonstrate that they require broad access to use the photo or video permissions. Google Play will start enforcing this policy in August. We’ve updated photo picker, Android’s preferred solution for granting individual access to photos and videos without requiring broad permissions. Photo picker now includes support for cloud storage services like Google Photos. It’s much easier to find the right photo by browsing albums and favorites. Coming later this year, photo picker will support local and cloud search as well.

Always evolving our multi-layered protections

Android's commitment to user safety is unwavering. We're constantly evolving our multi-layered user protections – combining the power of advanced AI with close partnerships across OEMs, the Android ecosystem, and the security research community. Building a truly secure Android experience is a collaborative effort, and we'll continue to work tirelessly to safeguard your device and data.

Kategorie: Hacking & Security

Gemini 1.5 má obří paměť. Googlu ukážete video nebo celou knihu a pak si o tom můžete s AI povídat

Živě.cz - 15 Květen, 2024 - 18:45
Google během úvodní keynote na konferenci I/O představil novou generaci AI Gemini 1.5 Pro a Flash, které si už můžeme všichni vyzkoušet v testovacím rozhraní pro vývojáře Google AI Studio. Klíčovou vlastností nejnovějšího Gemini je obrovské kontextové okno o velikosti 1 milionu tokenů (pro ...
Kategorie: IT News

There aren’t nearly enough workers to support new US chip production

Computerworld.com [Hacking News] - 15 Květen, 2024 - 18:33

With government money to spur them on, the semiconductor industry in the US is forging ahead with dozens of projects to expand domestic manufacturing.

But there’s a big problem: not enough labor to staff those new or upgraded facilities once they’re completed, according to a new report from professional service firm McKinsey & Co. The talent needed to meet the surge in chip demand, which is particularly acute because of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, spans three distinct labor pools — construction craft laborers, engineers, and technicians.

“Despite industry groups’ efforts to raise awareness and boost recruitment, the supply remains inadequate and staffing shortages could put domestic objectives for the industry at-risk, drive-up labor costs, and delay or diminish the return on this monumental investment,” McKinsey said in its report.

The CHIPS & Science Act (now called The CHIPS for America Act) passed by Congress in July 2022 set aside more than $52 billion in government incentives to spur semiconductor development and production on US soil. In addition to those investments, semiconductor companies have announced more than $200 billion in US fab investment through 2032.

McKinsey & Co.

New builds or fab plant expansions are planned in 16 states. For example, McKinsey’s analysis of company data shows that approximately 10,000 new job openings will be created through expanded operations in New York, with another 7,500 or so jobs created by four new fab builds in Arizona.

Industry analysts say the CHIPS Act is having its desired effect — the largest semiconductor designers and makers are investing in the US. By 2030, research firm IDC expects that 30% of the leading-edge chip technology will be produced in the US, Western Europe, and Japan.

For example, at the beginning of 2023, TSMC, the world’s largest chip maker, began construction on a third chip fabrication plant near Phoenix, AZ. TSMC’s three Arizona plants have represented flagship projects for the CHIPS Act. The TSMC project stalled, however, and the company announced it had pushed back its completion date to 2025 due to problems finding skilled labor.

It takes two to three years of construction, a year or more for equipment installation and ramp-up, and more than $20 billion to build some leading-edge facilities, according to McKinsey. And each phase involved in getting a fab up and running requires different types of talent in varying numbers. Construction craft laborers are essential to the building phase, while engineers and technicians are required to design and set up equipment and process lines during the final phases of construction.

Once operations are under way, engineers and technicians are needed to fill roles in several areas: manufacturing, integration and yield, central labs, facilities, quality assurance, product management, industrial engineering, and more. A leading-edge fab with a capacity of 20,000 to 45,000 wafers per month, for example, would employ between 1,100 and 1,350 engineers and about 950 to 1,200 technicians.

While construction of plants could be affected by manual labor shortages, the bigger question is, once fabs are built, “will there be enough technicians and engineers?” said Gaurav Gupta, a vice president analyst at Gartner Research. The decline in chip manufacturing on US shores over the past four decades has led to a lack of interest by college students to enter the field, he said.

“Intel, TSMC, and Samsung are all partnering with universities and community colleges, and once there are job openings and students see, things will improve,” Gupta said. “I was recently at a conference where one of the topics being discussed was on talent and part of the reason chip firms don’t attract that is they don’t advertise it properly.”

A potentially bigger long-term problem, however, is that as a new generation of students and workers enters the semiconductor industry, they will have different priorities — and chipmakers will need to adjust to stay competitive for talent, according to Gupta.

The US semiconductor industry needs to offer more attractive compensation packages to attract and retain talent, according to Galen Zeng, a semiconductor senior research manager with IDC in Taiwan. The industry must also implement policies that promote work-life balance to attract younger generations of workers.

The US government also needs to reform immigration policies to attract skilled labor from abroad; it could, for instance, simplify visa processes and provide tax incentives to attract talent from overseas, he said.

McKinsey & Co.

In recent years, it has taken longer to attract and hire semiconductor talen, according to McKinsey & Co. data. From 2018 through 2022, it took a week longer to find and hire semiconductor technologists compared to the previous seven years. In 2022, the active status of technician job postings rose to 28 days, a peak level reached prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At the same time, [semiconductor employee] attrition has been exceptionally high, and … it could rise even higher,” the study said.

In 2023, for example, more than half (53%) of electronics and semiconductor workers indicated they were at least somewhat likely to leave their current jobs within the next three to six months, up from 40% who said that in 2021.

The labor shortage is also not isolated to the US. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Europe all face the same issue. “Addressing the talent shortage in the semiconductor industry requires a comprehensive approach, including education, policies, industry collaboration, and compensation, to ensure the long-term sustainable growth and competitiveness of the semiconductor industry in various countries,” Zeng said.

Additional steps, Zeng said, that the US and other nations can take to address the problem include:

  • More Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) programs in education at all levels, with a foundation in semiconductors, including using semiconductor equipment to enable hands-on experience in schools.
  • Training institutions that collaborate with the semiconductor industry to develop specific programs to ensure the workforce has the necessary skills for semiconductor manufacturing.
  • Continuous learning for the semiconductor labor force so workers can adapt to new technologies and add longevity to careers.
  • New apprenticeship programs that combine classroom instruction with on-the-job training to build strong relationships between the workforce and students.

Even under optimistic projections, there will be considerable shortfalls in the US semiconductor workforce, according to McKinsey & Co., which explored the scope of semiconductor investment and existing talent challenges, the labor pools required to operate and build fabs, and the workforce development programs in the public and private sectors to bridge the gap.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has recognized the US needs to double the semiconductor workforce overall, triple the number of graduates in semiconductor-related fields, and train 100,000 new technicians.

McKinsey & Co.

“CHIPS for America will embrace a whole-of-society approach across government, education, labor unions, industry and community organizations to achieve these ambitious goals,” the department said in an email reply to Computerworld.

In November, the Commerce Department, which administers the CHIPS Act program, released a report on the impact of initiatives under way to build a US labor workforce for the semiconductor industry. As part of the report, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) outlined three key government initiatives, including: 

  • CHIPS Act incentives awards for commercial facilities to include dedicated funds for workforce development.
  • $500 million for public/private workforce investments in facilities
  • New commitments from chip manufacturers, states, and local governments to include registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships.

“After we get CHIPS incentives out the door, CHIPS for America staff expect to work closely with incentives recipients and regional education and training partners to support implementation of workforce strategies,” the Commerce Department said.

State and municipal governments are already stepping up to support the CHIPS for America workforce initiatives, with at least seven states dedicating new funding to support workforce training for semiconductor jobs, the department said. Additionally, more than 50 community colleges across 19 states have announced new or expanded programming to support semiconductor opportunities. 

Increasing the local pool of US engineers will require investment by the federal government in the university and research ecosystem. A much faster solution would see the US government come to terms with the need to relax immigration laws to allow for more highly skilled foreigners from locations like Taiwan, South Korea or Japan, to help ramp up production in those new fabs, according to Josep Bori, a research director at data analytics and consulting company GlobalData.

“The alternative would be to delay such investments, but still it is not clear that universities would ramp up provision of relevant degrees without the actual demand already in place,” Bori said.

According to McKinsey, US manufacturing semiconductor capacity increases are expected to create up to 48,000 jobs at fabrication plants in the next two to three years. But those new job numbers do not account for the rise in attrition the industry is likely to experience in the same time frame. In 2023, 53% of electronics and semiconductor employees indicated they were at least somewhat likely to leave their current jobs within the next three to six months, the study showed.

Workforce development programs are likely to add around 12,000 engineers and 31,500 technicians by 2029, according to McKinsey. “Nevertheless, even when these are combined with CHIPS Act efforts, optimistic projections indicate there will still be considerable shortfalls in the workforce,” it said.

GlobalFoundries, which in February was awarded $1.5 billion in CHIPS Act money to help it expand and create new US manufacturing capacity and capabilities, said it has a number of initiatives in place to tackle the workforce shortage. Earlier this month, the company announced a student loan reimbursement program.

Among other efforts, including a military veteran’s outreach effort, GlobalFoundries launched technician internship programs offering hands-on paid experience to students while they’re enrolled in community college programs. “We hire graduates of two-year degrees into Maintenance Technician roles,” a spokesman said.

Artificial Intelligence, Careers, CPUs and Processors, Government, IT Jobs, Manufacturing Industry
Kategorie: Hacking & Security
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