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Applied Materials’ critical ETP proposal approved; company and staff stress apprenticeships, not internships, for semiconductor hiring pipeline
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Summary
The Employment Training Panel approved Applied Materials’ critical proposal for $849,800 to train 607 workers and heard detailed discussion about using registered apprenticeships, how CHIPS Act funding relates, and how the company plans to funnel trainees into long-term roles.
Applied Materials received panel approval for a critical proposal worth $849,800 to train 607 workers at sites in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, the company and staff said.
At the Jan. 1 Employment Training Panel meeting, Lillian Chu of Applied Materials described the company’s planned $4 billion research-and-development investment in the region and framed the ETP funding as one of several workforce strategies the company will use as it expands. Panel members pressed for clarity about whether CHIPS Act–related funding would rely on unpaid internships or paid apprenticeships. Applied representatives said a press release had misworded the program: “it should have read apprenticeships,” not internships, and the company has been working to register apprenticeship occupations with state agencies.
Philip Herrera, who spoke on the apprenticeship approach, said Applied is developing registered apprenticeship occupations and separate cohorts to create a pipeline of skilled workers. He described apprenticeship efforts as complementary to ETP-funded incumbent-worker training rather than subsumed into a single program: “The apprenticeships that participate in that, we're not gonna roll them into ETP... we're gonna keep them separate and apart to demonstrate...public–private partnerships that we do have apprenticeships.”
Panel members asked how internships, apprenticeships and ETP-funded incumbent training would link to full-time hires. Staff and Applied said internships are paid, apprenticeships are registered and ETP work would focus on incumbent and advanced training; Applied expects apprenticeships and other training avenues to support the company’s hiring needs.
What happens next: With panel approval, Applied Materials will proceed with the ETP contract and coordinate apprenticeship cohorts with state workforce partners and community colleges as described. Staff noted that apprenticeship programs being developed in coordination with the company are likely to be managed and reported separately from the ETP contract.