Trump's proposed ges to visa rules led by chip industry

Visa serves as a critical pipeline to the tech workforce

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Trump has acknowledged the difficulty in balancing between fortifying domestic industry and tightening immigration.

(reuters)

Skilled workers and foreign students help fill a widening talent gap in the US tech workforce.

Last year, prior to any added immigration hurdles, the Semiconductor Industry Association warned that about 67,000 industry jobs risk going unfilled by 2030, with about 26% of those roles projected to require a master's or PhD degree.

"Immigration is essential to the long-run success of this industry in the US," said Adam Ozimek, chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, a think tank that has proposed a policy of specialized visas for chip industry workers. "There's a global scarcity of these experts. We are in a global competition to bring in these workers."

Computer science and electrical engineering graduate programs—popular fields for future semiconductor innovators—enroll some of the highest proportions of international students in the US. According to a 2023 survey by the National Science Foundation, more than three quarters of computer science grad students in the US and more than half of all electrical engineering pupils are foreign students enrolled with visas.

"We are the number one desired location of skilled workers around the world," Ozimek said. "That is one of our competitive advantages, and we should be taking advantage of it, not eroding it."