The 830-m2 super cleanroom at theHiroshima University Research Institutefor Nanodevices. It is open to outsideorganizations and serves as a setting forcollaboration among industry, academia,and government, and between different
academic disciplines.

JAPAN -U.S. PARTNERSHIP TO FOSTER

DIVERSE TALENT FOR
THE SEMICONDUCTOR
INDUSTRY
With society undergoing rapid digitalization, semiconductors are a key technology that is essential to the realizationof digitalization and decarbonization, as well as a crucial strategic material in light of economic security. Japan andthe United States have joined forces to cultivate a more robust and highly skilled workforce in this field.
Semiconductors are integrated
into many objects, from familiar
electronic devices such as thesmartphones and PCs we use
in our daily lives to such basicsocial infrastructure as railroads
and bank ATMs. Some saythese materials, which process
information for data storage,
numerical calculations, and logicaloperations, are among the world’s
most critical resources in an age
when all sorts of industries andproducts have been digitalized
and vast amounts of data areexchanged over the Internet

on a daily basis. Even so, only alimited number of companies in
the world can manufacture thesecomponents, thus it is urgent
to decentralize semiconductor
production bases and strengthen
the capacity for their supply.
Moreover,asdigitalization
spreads and grows ever moresophisticated, they must be
technologically innovated tohave even greater capacity, speed,miniaturization, reliability, andpower efficiency.
That is why the U.S.-Japan
University
Partnershipfor

TERAMOTO Akinobu, Director and Professorof the Research Institute for Nanodevices at
Hiroshima University, conducts research on
structural design, manufacturing processes, andevaluation techniques for semiconductor devices.
After working for Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation as an engineer for a decade, he was aprofessor at the New Industry Creation Hatchery
Center at Tohoku University before assuming hiscurrent position.

Workforce Advancement andResearch & Development in
Semiconductors (UPWARDS)
for the Future was establishedin May 2023. With morethan 60 million dollars incontributions expected over thenext five years from a variety ofsources including semiconductor
companies, the partnership will
deepen ties between industry
and higher education acrossJapan and the U.S. Aimed atcultivating a more robust andhighly skilled workforce throughthe development of leading
semiconductor curricula andthe creation of opportunities forcross-collaboration, the partnershipwill drive emerging research.
Japan’s Hiroshima University
is one of 11 institutes ofhigher education involved in
UPWARDS for the Future. Witha campus in Hiroshima Prefecture,
the site of this year’s G7 summit,
it has one of the longest histories
of semiconductor research inJapan. TERAMOTO Akinobu,
Director of the Research Institutefor Nanodevices at the university,
said, “I think the partnershipholds great significance becauseit allows us to build a network
as a system, rather than relying

The facade of the Hiroshima University ResearchInstitute for Nanodevices. Formerly named theResearch Center for Integrated Systems, it wasestablished in 1986.

solely on individual researchers’
personal connections. Throughexchanges
withvarious
universities and companies, wehope to nurture a workforce witha high level of expertise as wellas broad perspectives that allow
them to see the big picture in thesemiconductor industry.”
AOTO Nahomi, who used
to work for Hiroshima-based
Micron Memory Japan, K.K., asubsidiary of U.S. semiconductormanufacturer Micron Technology,Inc., is a specially appointed
professor at the university. She
said enthusiastically, “Without
semiconductors, we cannot build
our world’s future. No otherindustry is growing like this one.
There is a common misconception
thatJapan’ssemiconductor
industry has declined, but infact, sales of the product haveheld steady, and Japan still boasts
advanced technological capabilities
pertaining to semiconductor
memory. We want to inform more
people about the opportunities
presented by semiconductors andattract more talent to support theindustry. That is our primary goalwith UPWARDS for the Future.”
Providing opportunities forfemale students, staff andleaders, in particular, is anotherimportant objective of thepartnership. Hiroshima University
has already been offeringscholarships and other support
to women, but the partnershipwill further expand upon
that. The purpose of focusing
on support for women is not
simply to recruit more excellent
talent. Aoto said, “I feel that

AOTO Nahomi is a professor (specialdesignation) at the Research Institute for
Nanodevices at Hiroshima University. In the four
decades since she was hired by NEC Corporationin 1983, she has been engaged in semiconductorprocess research and development. During thattime, the company was reorganized into Elpida
Memory, Inc., and later became Micron Memory
Japan, K.K. In 2023, she was appointed to her
position at Hiroshima University.

semiconductor manufacturing is
an industry in which employees
are fairly evaluated and enjoy
equal opportunities regardlessof their gender. I want to tellas many people as possible that
this is a place where women candemonstrate their abilities andflourish.” She added, “From myown experience at Micron, wherepeople from diverse backgrounds
work, I am absolutely certainthat both technology and society
benefit when people fromdifferent backgrounds share theirideas and opinions.”
Semiconductors are bound to
become increasingly importantfor society’s development andeconomic security. To createa more prosperous and stableworld, universities and companies
in both Japan and the U.S. will
work closely together under
UPWARDS for the Future totrain a diverse semiconductor
workforce and strengthen theindustry’s technology base.