From me to you
This July our community gathers in Austin for HI-TEC, the national conference on advanced technological education, supported by the NSF ATE program. It is the one week a year when educators, counselors, technicians, and industry are in the same room to learn from each other and sharpen what they bring back home.
I will be there. So will much of the MNT-EC team. Come find us in Austin.
Jared
P.S. And yes, the BBQ will, of course, feature banana pudding.
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In the News
The microelectronics workforce-gap numbers most of us quote are two years old. That changes July 7, when McKinsey, the SEMI Foundation, and NSF unveil a new National Landscape Analysis. The early figure: a projected shortfall of 127,000 to 157,000 microelectronics workers by 2030.
For community colleges building these pathways, that gap is the argument for the work. The reveal is a live webinar, and it is filling up.
Register for the July 7 webinar
Our take on what this means for micro and nano education is on LinkedIn.
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Student Opportunities & Job Listings
Fourteen verified openings this week across semiconductors, optics, and advanced manufacturing, organized by region, student roles first, with community-college pathways called out where they exist. One role is decoded at the end.
Jobs verified as of June 25, 2026. Some may have closed since.
Southwest
★ Intel, Manufacturing Technician Internship
Rio Rancho, NM · internship · enrolled A.A.S. students · rate not posted
Texas Instruments, Plasma Equipment Technician · decoded below
Richardson, TX · rate not posted · HS diploma or GED plus experience
Corning, Process Technician I
Phoenix, AZ · rate not posted · A.S./certificate or equivalent
Applied Materials, Manufacturing Technician
Tempe, AZ · rate not posted · A.S.
Applied Materials, Customer Support Technician II
Phoenix, AZ · $20–$27.50/hr · entry-level
Applied Materials, Material Coordinator/Handler
Austin, TX · $18–$24.80/hr · entry-level
Mountain West
Micron, Yield Enhancement Failure Analysis Lab SEM & ETM Process Technician (Idaho Fab 1)
Boise, ID · rate not posted
Micron, Associate Technician – Reticle Manufacturing
Boise, ID · rate not posted · HS diploma
Micron, Facilities I&C Technician
Boise, ID · rate not posted
Northeast
★ GlobalFoundries, Associate Maintenance Technician Apprenticeship
Essex Junction, VT · apprenticeship, trains via the GF Technician Program · rate not posted
GlobalFoundries, ETCH Equipment Technician (D Shift)
Malta, NY · $5,000 sign-on bonus
Edwards Vacuum, Sr. Machine Maintenance Technician
New York · rate not posted · HS diploma
Coherent, Optical Test Technician
Woburn, MA · rate not posted · HS diploma · optics and photonics
Southeast
★ Corning, Manufacturing Co-op for NC Community College Students
Concord, NC · co-op · current NC community college enrollment · rate not posted
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🔍 ROLE DECODED THIS WEEK
Texas Instruments, Plasma Equipment Technician
📍 Richardson, TX · semiconductor fab (RFAB) · HS/GED, no degree, experience required
What you would do. You keep the plasma tools in TI’s Richardson fab running. Preventive maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and new tool installs, plus the detective work when a tool keeps going down. You watch the tool data, find the pattern behind the repeat failures, bring in the supplier when a fix needs them, and write up what you found so the next person is not solving it twice. The schedule is 12-hour shifts, days or nights, including weekends.
What it pays. Texas Instruments does not post a rate, and no single BLS occupation fits a plasma equipment technician cleanly. Two bracket it: semiconductor processing technicians at $51,180, and the closer duty match, industrial machinery mechanics and maintenance workers at $63,510 (both May 2024 medians). That maintenance occupation enters on a high school diploma plus on-the-job training, like this role, and is projected to grow 13 percent through 2034, much faster than average.
How you get there. No degree required, but this is not a first job. The floor is a high school diploma or GED plus either two years as a semiconductor technician or five years of technician experience in another field or the military. That second path is the opening for a career changer or a transitioning veteran. A community college certificate or associate in electronics or mechatronics, paired with that hands-on time, is how you get in and move up, toward senior or lead technician, then equipment engineering technician. View the role.
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With enormous appreciation to Tiffany Kimoto, Executive Director of The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech, for all her help building this week’s job roundup.
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