538 students. 190 colleges and universities. Nearly $1M invested in future engineers, technicians, and innovators.
One year after launching at SEMICON, the Semiconductor Pathways Fund is demonstrating what happens when an industry invests together in the talent it needs. Students are advancing toward graduation. Last Mile alumni are joining partner companies. And six semiconductor leaders are building completion infrastructure with the reach to turn individual student potential into a stronger innovation workforce.
Now, Intel joins Applied Materials, Cadence, KLA, Lam Research, and AMD Foundation in that shared commitment.
Our SPF Year One outcomes celebrate the students behind this progress and an industry coalition willing to do something ambitious: grow the talent pool together, then compete for it.
An Industry Strategy With Students at Its Center
Every semiconductor company needs talent. Engineers who can design what comes next. Technicians who can bring it into production. Computer scientists and materials specialists who can push the boundaries of what is possible.
Across the country, students are already preparing for those roles. They have invested years in their education and are approaching the moment when that preparation becomes a credential, a career, and a contribution to the innovation economy.
SPF invests at that moment.
In its first year, the Fund awarded $992,678 directly to 538 students, with an average award of $1,845. At the time of support, those students were an average of approximately nine months from graduation.
Those investments protect something much larger: years of learning, persistence, and preparation. They give students the financial room to keep moving toward the futures they have worked to build.
And the talent extends far beyond familiar recruiting grounds. SPF reached students at 190 colleges and universities. Nearly two-thirds were first-generation college students. Nearly half were women. This is a national talent pool with the ambition and skills to contribute, connected through infrastructure that makes timely investment possible.
Intel Adds Momentum to a Shared Commitment
Semiconductor companies are competing for engineers and technicians with aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, and big tech. Investing together through SPF strengthens the industry’s position in that wider competition while introducing students to an industry that sees their potential, invests in their education, and offers a place to build their careers. The coalition is expanding the talent pool and giving more graduates a reason to choose semiconductors before their careers even begin
Intel joins a coalition that has committed nearly $2.9 million to this shared workforce strategy. Building on founding partner Applied Materials’ leadership and investments from Cadence, KLA, Lam Research, and AMD Foundation, these companies are turning degree completion into a collective advantage: more graduates prepared to power semiconductor innovation.
Together, these companies are making degree completion part of their workforce strategy.
The Talent Is Already Showing Up
SPF grew from the Applied Materials Momentum Fund, which demonstrated the power of investing in future engineers before graduation. Across the coalition, partner companies have already hired 33 Last Mile alumni. That is a tangible connection between completion infrastructure and the workforce it is designed to build.
Year One Is the Starting Point
Year One built something the industry has never had: national reach, hundreds of students funded, real industry connections, and six companies united behind a shared vision.
The infrastructure is built. What comes next is scale, and that is a decision only investment can make. New partners widen the reach. Current partners deepen the impact. Together they determine how many students finish.
The semiconductor industry is building the future. With SPF, it is also building the people who will build it.
Learn more about the Semiconductor Pathways Fund. See what we have started. Be part of what comes next.