Janeen Sollman
Sollman, a Democrat, represents District 15-Hillsboro in the Oregon Senate. She co-chaired the Joint Committee on Semiconductors.
The $8.5 billion federal CHIPS Act investment in Intel last week – the largest since the program’s inception – is historic not only for its magnitude but for the recognition it brings to Oregon’s Silicon Forest, where Intel continues to drive US semiconductor global leadership.
CHIPS funding is far more than an investment in domestic jobs and U.S. competition with China. It’s an investment in the whole ecosystem behind the chip-powered devices we use every day, from phones to appliances and cars. In Oregon, the scale of this investment cannot be overstated – nor should its potential be underestimated.
With last week’s announcement, Intel plans to invest $36 billion in Oregon in the next five years – a staggering figure especially when you consider the company invested $59 billion in the last 45 years. This investment not only positions Oregon well for the near-term, but it lays the groundwork for Oregon to emerge as the global epicenter for the semiconductor industry. But in order to do that, we must learn from the past and avoid getting in our own way.
Even as elected officials worked last year to improve Oregon’s competitiveness for CHIPS funding, opponents tried to cast Senate Bill 4 as the end to Oregon’s 50-year-old land use laws. I’m proud of the compromises that resulted from our negotiations to protect our state’s agricultural heritage, while making room to compete for global chips jobs. The generous federal investment announced last week shows the tremendous benefit to Oregon of our commitment to the semiconductor industry.
But as a state, we must be decidedly supportive of that economic growth with continued government action or else be comfortable seeing our state’s highest wage jobs move elsewhere. When states from Vermont to Texas and Ohio to Arizona are making aggressive plays for their own semiconductor work, this is hardly time to rest on our laurels.
We also need to go on the offense and ensure that we are providing the education and workforce development strategy to support continued semiconductor industry growth. That’s why legislators earlier this month already took bold steps to boost career readiness for artificial intelligence computing and advanced manufacturing with the passage of House Bill 4154. The bill expands education and training opportunities to diversify our workforce and support the most pressing and long-term needs of the semiconductor industry. It also directed $10 million to six public universities to establish or modernize their semiconductor manufacturing training facilities.
But our talent base, even with these investments, won’t alone secure our global semiconductor leadership.
Intel and others in the industry have the responsibility to spend the funds they received wisely, expand on their community investments, utilize local skilled union crews, and ensure prosperity serves the entire state, especially those historically excluded from economic opportunity.
However, we, as state leaders, have more work to do as well.
We need to invest in greater renewable and competitively affordable power, usable land and a business environment that helps local firms compete at a global level. Additionally, we need to show why Oregon is the right place to site the National Semiconductor Technology Center that the federal government is planning. Already, Oregon has the Corvallis Microfluidics Tech Hub – one of only four such federally-designated hubs focusing on semiconductors – which is working on the rapid commercialization of chip-cooling technology critical for the growing global artificial intelligence boom. The collaboration in this effort by public and private partners, including Gov. Tina Kotek, our congressional delegation, Oregon’s public universities, Intel, HP, Nvidia and others, can land major economic victories for our state and cement Oregon’s status as the heart of U.S. semiconductor research and development.
I will always believe in the power of education to strengthen our state’s future, and I’m excited by the promise the recent CHIPS Act funding brings to add momentum to building our future-ready workforce.
Our challenge is to make sure that historic funding announced last week is seen as only the start.