Episode
271: Preparing Manufacturers for the Semiconductor Boom: Insights from SEMICON West and Beyond
- Podcast
- Manufacturing Happy Hour
- Published
- Jan 20, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3331
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- http://manufacturinghappyhour.com
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Summary
Chips are the new oil. And that's not just a catchy line, it's the lens through which national security, supply chain strategy, and trillion-dollar investments are being made right now. With a hundred-plus fabs going up globally and the industry sprinting toward a trillion dollars by 2032, the semiconductor boom isn't coming. It's here. This episode comes to you from SEMICON West 2025 in Phoenix, with guests joining from HARTING Technology Group and Rockwell Automation. Jeffrey Miller and Danielle Collins kick things off with a semiconductor primer for folks who aren't living and breathing this space every day. Danielle's been in the industry since her first SEMICON in 1999, seen the shift from 200 to 300-millimeter wafers, and watched manufacturing go local while R&D went global. Anuj Mahendru joins Chris on the show floor to dig into the challenges facing legacy and digital fabs, from worker productivity and material movement challenges to why copy exact is finally loosening its grip on this industry. This is part one of a two-part semiconductor series, so stay tuned for the bonus episode dropping right after this one. In this episode, find out: Why chips have become a national security priority on par with oil What's driving the trillion-dollar march toward 2032 How legacy fabs are solving material movement problems they didn’t planned for Why the semiconductor industry was doing AI long before it was a buzzword What equipment manufacturers mean by "do more with less" Why copy exact is starting to crack post-COVID How sustainability shifted from compliance checkbox to business imperative What it takes to become a trusted partner in an industry that's famously risk-averse Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback fro…