Partly cloudy with late night showers or thunderstorms. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Partly cloudy with late night showers or thunderstorms. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.

The semiconductor business has its ups, with record demand for electronics, and downs, with rising tensions between China and microchip dominator Taiwan.

There are predictions that the U.S. would need to boost its semi-conductor job market by 50% or at least 70,000 jobs to remain competitive.

But first, understand the importance of semiconductors in handling electricity. If a substance conducts electricity like copper or aluminum it is a conductor. If it doesn’t, it’s an insulator like glass. Semiconductors are halfway between, working as one or the other depending on temperatures. Semiconductors are vital components in phones, cars or air conditioners to name a few.

Mung Chiang, the incoming president of Purdue University, certainly understands the role of semiconductors in society. Born in northern mainland China, Chiang, currently the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, will replace Mitch Daniels early next year.

Much of Chiang’s role, however, is rooted in the future of semiconductors.

In June 2019, Purdue announced a deal bringing research by the global Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor contract manufacturer, to the West Lafayette campus, establishing the Center for Secured Microelectronics Ecosystem.

TSMC revenue in June alone was $5.8 billion ($175 billion in New Taiwan dollars) an increase of 18.5% from the previous June but a 5.3% decrease from May. TSMC is doing well.

So well in fact that for the year ending 2021, TSMC was in the Top 10 for equity holdings in the Indiana Public Retirement System.

In December of 2019, Chiang took a year’s leave to work as science and technology adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. In May 2020, Chiang attended a State Department briefing that addressed China’s efforts to dodge U.S. export controls. Officials there announced a $12 billion investment in the U.S. by TSMC.

Chiang likened the deal to “the old Bell Lab days, if you will. We can now anticipate a full blossom of American innovations in the coming years.”

In 2021, Congress authorized the CHIPS for America Act for which Chiang gave hearing testimony titled “Ensuring American Leadership in Semiconductors.”

In May of this year, Purdue launched its Semiconductor Degrees Program in hopes of addressing the need for trained engineers.

Last December, Chiang withdrew his name from consideration as president of the University of Southern Carolina. By withdrawing he may have indicated that his work was not done in West Lafayette.

Chiang’s pending role harkens back to the five-year term of Daniels’ predecessor, France A. Cordova, herself a researcher in astrophysics who secured research funding of more than $1 billion through private philanthropy.

His presidency may mark a refocused face of Purdue, heading from the homespun yet savvy Daniels to the often behind-the-scenes work of raising research dollars.

Chiang has an admirable direction in mind by touting innovation.

With fortitude, creativity and funding, Chiang’s vision for innovations in microelectronics may well keep Purdue’s research centers as vital and relevant as they have been in the past.

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