32842 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices 

1https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/ 

uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905-2.pdf. 

Dated: July 10, 2018. 

Gary Taverman, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping 

and Countervailing Duty Operations, 

performing the non-exclusive functions and 

duties of the Assistant Secretary for 

Enforcement and Compliance. 

Appendix—List of Topics Discussed in 

the Issues and Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Scope of the Order 

III. Period of Review 

IV. Subsidies Valuation Information 

V. Analysis of Programs 

VI. Analysis of Comments 

Comment 1: Whether Hyundai Steel and 

Hyundai Green Power Are Cross-Owned 

Affiliates 

Comment 2: Whether the Government of 

Korea Purchased Electricity From 

Hyundai Green Power for More Than 

Adequate Remuneration During the POR 

VII. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2018–15137 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

[Docket Number: 180404350–8350–01] 

Current and Future Workforce Needs 

to Support a Strong Domestic 

Semiconductor Industry 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; Request for Information 

(RFI). 

SUMMARY: The National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) on 

behalf of the Department of Commerce 

and the National Security Council is 

seeking information on the scope and 

sufficiency of efforts to educate, train, 

and attract the workforce necessary to 

meet the demands of the current and 

future semiconductor industry, in 

support of the President’s National 

Security Strategy. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

5:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 15, 

2018. Written comments in response to 

this RFI should be submitted in 

accordance with the instructions in the 

ADDRESSES and SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION sections below. 

Submissions received after that date 

may not be considered. 

ADDRESSES: To respond to this RFI, 

please submit written comments by 

email to semiwkfc@nist.gov in any of the 

following formats: ASCII; Word; RTF; or 

PDF. Please include your name, 

organization’s name (if any), and cite 

‘‘Semiconductor Workforce RFI’’ in the 

subject line of all correspondence. 

Comments sent by any other method, to 

any other address or individual, or 

received after the end of the comment 

period, may not be considered. All 

personal identifying information (e.g., 

name, address) submitted voluntarily by 

the sender will be publicly accessible. 

Do not submit confidential business 

information, or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word or Excel, or Adobe PDF 

formats only. 

Comments containing references, 

studies, research, and other empirical 

data that are not widely published 

should include electronic copies of the 

referenced materials. Please do not 

submit additional materials. 

All submissions, including 

attachments and other supporting 

materials, will become part of the public 

record and subject to public disclosure. 

Sensitive personal information, such as 

account numbers or Social Security 

numbers, or names of other individuals, 

should not be included. Submissions 

will not be edited to remove any 

identifying or contact information. Do 

not submit confidential business 

information, or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. Comments that 

contain profanity, vulgarity, threats, or 

other inappropriate language or content 

will not be considered. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions about this FRN contact: Jason 

Boehm or David Seiler, U.S. Department 

of Commerce, National Institute of 

Standards and Technology, at 301–975– 

8678 or 301–975–2074. 

Please direct media inquiries to 

Jennifer Huergo in the NIST Public 

Affairs Office at jennifer.huergo@

nist.gov, (301) 975–6343. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: President 

Trump’s National Security Strategy,1

released in December of 2017, 

specifically highlights the importance of 

emerging technologies to economic 

growth and security, including advances 

in data science, encryption, autonomous 

technologies, new materials, advanced 

computing technologies, and artificial 

intelligence—all of which are powered 

by and dependent upon continued 

advances in semiconductor technology. 

Maintaining the technological edge of 

the United States in this critical 

industry area requires a robust domestic 

workforce. As part of the National 

Security Strategy, the United States will 

seek to maintain and develop the 

necessary workforce through a 

multifaceted approach including 

enhanced support for K–12, 

undergraduate, and graduate STEM 

education (with a particular focus on 

semiconductor technology), targeted 

technical training, internship and 

apprenticeship programs, and 

cooperative education programs. 

Responses to this RFI will inform 

recommendations to the National 

Security Council on steps the 

Administration can take to strengthen 

the technical workforce that supports 

the semiconductor and related 

industries. The report will assess the 

scope and sufficiency of efforts to 

educate and train the future American 

semiconductor workforce from primary 

through higher education, and provide 

recommendations and a plan on how 

the government will continue to support 

the growth and sustainment of this 

workforce to meet the needs of both the 

private and public sectors. 

In this RFI, NIST seeks specific 

information from stakeholders of the 

semiconductor industry such as 

materials providers, equipment 

suppliers, manufacturers, designers, 

trade associations, educational 

institutions, government entities, and 

other interested parties about the 

workforce needs of the semiconductor 

industry, and potential efforts to 

strengthen the current and future 

workforce. In this request, the term 

‘‘semiconductor’’ broadly refers to 

semiconductor materials, devices, 

sensors, integrated circuits, computing 

architectures, software tools, design, 

lithography, fabrication, testing, 

packaging, embedded software and 

firmware developers, and related 

technologies that, through a 

combination of materials processing, 

manufacturing, and application, form 

the foundation and basis for the 

semiconductor, memory, technology 

manufacturing, computing, and 

information technology industry sectors. 

NIST seeks information that will 

assist U.S. Government efforts in 

developing recommendations for 

supporting the growth and sustainment 

of the Nation’s semiconductor 

workforce to meet the current and future 

needs of the public and private sectors. 

Our goal is to gather input that will be 

utilized to refine and target relevant 

federal resources and programs to 

attract, educate, and train the necessary 

advanced technical workforce necessary 

to ensure that the U.S. maintains a 

robust semiconductor industrial base, 

including the fundamental research 

needed to continue to innovate in 

semiconductor technologies, that is 

necessary to drive future advances in 

transformational technologies including 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 136 / Monday, July 16, 2018 / Notices 32843 

artificial intelligence (AI), advanced and 

quantum computing, and autonomous 

systems. 

Request for Information 

Respondents are encouraged—but not 

required—to respond to any or all of the 

following questions, and may address 

related topics. Please identify the 

questions or topic areas each of your 

comments addresses. The following 

questions cover the major areas about 

which NIST seeks comment. These 

questions are directed towards domestic 

semiconductor manufacturers, 

associated supporting industries, 

educational institutions, and their 

stakeholders. Responses may include 

estimates. Please indicate where the 

response is an estimate. 

Respondents may organize their 

submissions in response to this RFI in 

any manner, and all responses that 

comply with the requirements listed in 

the DATES and ADDRESSES sections of 

this notice will be considered. 

Comments containing references, 

studies, research, and other empirical 

data that are not widely published 

should include electronic copies of the 

referenced materials. Do not include in 

comments or otherwise submit 

proprietary or confidential information. 

Comments that contain profanity, 

vulgarity, threats, or inappropriate 

language or content will not be 

considered. 

Basic Information 

Briefly describe your company or 

organization in terms of: 

a. What is the name of your company 

or organization? 

b. How is your company or 

organization involved with the 

semiconductor industry (e.g., industry 

association, university, company 

involved in semiconductor design, 

fabrication, package test and assembly, 

or other)? 

Workforce Challenges and Needs 

1. When hiring technical staff, for 

what types of positions do you 

encounter the most difficultly in finding 

qualified employees? 

a. Have you been able to identify any 

causes for these recruitment difficulties 

(lack of appropriate educational 

programs, lack of collaboration between 

industry and educational institutions, 

competition within your industry, 

competition for talent from outside your 

industry, etc.) 

2. Are there specific educational 

levels that are needed for your current 

workforce? 

a. Are there some educational levels 

where it is harder to find qualified staff? 

b. Have you been able to identify any 

causes for these difficulties in finding 

qualified staff (high competition for a 

specific talent pool, lack of experienced 

individuals, educational programs not 

directly aligned with your needs, etc.) 

3. Are there certain factors relating to 

workforce needs that your company or 

organization prioritizes when locating a 

new facility, for example a strong base 

of existing talent, a robust local 

educational ecosystem, etc.? 

4. How do you see the work force 

needs of your company or organization 

changing over the next 5 years, 10 years, 

15 years? 

a. Do you think that certain levels of 

education will be more important? 

b. Are there fields of training that you 

think will be more important? 

5. As the industry continues to evolve 

and develop and integrate new 

technologies (e.g., new computing 

paradigms, new material systems, 

broader use of AI) are there skillsets that 

you see as becoming more important? 

a. Do you have an opinion on the 

types of training needed to develop 

these skillsets for the future? 

b. From your experience are there 

types of partnerships with federal 

agencies and/or educational institutions 

that would be helpful to prepare this 

workforce for the future? 

6. Are there certain obstacles that you 

see as the biggest impediment to 

meeting your workforce needs? For 

example, a lack of aligned educational 

programs (including internship and 

apprenticeship opportunities), a lack of 

collaboration with such educational 

programs, a lack of students in science 

and engineering, a lack of interest in 

your industry, a lack of facilities with 

appropriate equipment to train workers 

(e.g., community colleges without 

access to fabrication equipment/ 

facilities), or other issues? Please 

describe. 

Potential Workforce Solutions 

7. Are there specific approaches your 

company or organization utilizes to 

address your workforce needs? For 

example, tailored partnerships and 

curricula with regional universities and 

community colleges, internship or 

apprenticeship programs, training or 

retraining of displaced workers, or other 

approaches? 

8. Are there certain approaches or 

actions that would most effectively 

stimulate the supply of qualified 

workers for the semiconductor industry 

in the near term (e.g., targeted 

scholarships including internships/ 

apprenticeships, loan repayment 

incentives, procurement of specialized 

equipment for schools and universities, 

immigration and visa reform, etc.)? 

9. What approaches do you think 

would most effectively stimulate the 

supply of qualified workers for the 

semiconductor industry over the long 

term (e.g., professional development 

opportunities for K–12 teachers and K– 

12 student programs such as camps, 

competitions and projects in the 

semiconductor space)? 

10. Although apprenticeship has, in 

the past, been available mostly to those 

in the traditional trades, efforts are now 

underway to expand apprenticeship 

into new fields, including advanced 

manufacturing, IT, healthcare, energy 

supply and distribution, banking and 

finance and engineering (in partnership 

with four-year institutions). Have you 

considered engaging in apprenticeship 

training to prepare your workforce? 

Why or why not? 

11. Are there examples of 

partnerships with local educational 

institutions (e.g., a work-study program) 

that you use to support your operations? 

12. Are there types of support (grants, 

economic development incentives or 

other benefits) from federal, state and 

local government agencies that have 

helped enable your workforce? Of these 

types of support what makes them most 

effective? 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 278s. 

Kevin A. Kimball, 

Chief of Staff. 

[FR Doc. 2018–15077 Filed 7–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XG304 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands; Exempted Fishing 

Permit 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of receipt of an 

application for an exempted fishing 

permit; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces the receipt 

of an application for an exempted 

fishing permit (EFP) from the NMFS 

Panama City, FL laboratory. If granted, 

the EFP would authorize NMFS or 

NMFS contracted commercial fishers 

aboard their commercial fishing vessels 


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