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 oilWhat's driving the trillion-dollar march toward 2032How legacy fabs are solving material movement problems they didn’t planned forWhy the semiconductor industry was doing AI long before it was a buzzwordWhat equipment manufacturers mean by "do more with less"Why copy exact is starting to crack post-COVIDHow sustainability shifted from compliance checkbox to business imperativeWhat 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 from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

“Manufacturing is being localized, while R&D is being globalized. R&D has moved from being concentrated in Northern California and the Boston area to regions like India, Asia and Japan.” - Danielle Collins“The semiconductor industry is defined by data economics, and it’s the currency of conversations. Successful partners that will lead the way will be companies who can speak the language of operational data.” - Jeffrey Miller“Before semiconductor and chips, it was oil. Now chips have become the new oil. After and during COVID, the world came to the realization that there needs to be resiliency of the supply chain. From a geopolitical standpoint people see semiconductors at the front end of national security and self-sufficiency.” - Anuj Mahendru

Links & mentions:

HARTING Technology Group, a leading global provider of industrial connectivity solutions enabling the transmission of data, signal, and power across sectors including transportation, electromobility, renewable energy, automation, and mechanical engineering.Rockwell Automation, a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation, delivering innovative hardware and software solutions through its recognized Allen-Bradley® and Rockwell Software® brands.SEMICON West, North America’s premier microelectronics exhibition, brought industry leaders, startups, and researchers together in Phoenix on October 7-9 2025, to drive collaboration, knowledge exchange, workforce development, and long-term investment, with future events planned for

Folgen-ID: 1000745868940

GUID: ffe431ee-be5a-4c31-a175-94589e373493

Erscheinungs­datum: 20.1.2026, 10:00:00