Thank you, Congresswoman Williams for that kind introduction and thank you for all that you do for your district, the city of Atlanta, the State of Georgia, and our country.

I also want to thank you, Dr. French, for generously hosting us here today at the beautiful Clark Atlanta University. Although I am the great, great grandson of Howard University’s first graduate, I have a ton of love for CAU, and we are so grateful to be in dialogue with you here today.

Let me start by saying Happy Black History Month.

I am thrilled to be here with you all to discuss a topic that is so important to the Biden administration: creating equitable talent pipelines into high growth industries.

This will be particularly important as we continue our work at the Commerce Department and across the administration to make our supply chains more resilient, which is crucial to ensuring that our economy can fully recover from this pandemic.

A critical part of that recovery will be our ability to make semiconductors right here in the United States.

Semiconductor chips power everything from our smart phones to our washing machines, to medical equipment and fighter jets. They are truly the building blocks of our modern economy.

We used to be the leader in the production of semiconductor chips, but today we account for only 12% of global production. And we make 0% of the most advanced chips.

That’s why Secretary Raimondo and I are working with Congress to bridge the differences between their respective pieces of legislation and pass the President’s proposed chips funding signed into law, which would inject $52 billion dollars into our economy for domestic semiconductor production.

The importance of HBCUs to the semiconductor sector could not be more evident.

HBCUs and other MSIs not only drive major economic activity, generating nearly $15 billion in economic impact each year and more than 130,000 jobs for their local economies, but they also produce nearly 20 percent of all Black college graduates and 25 percent of Black STEM graduates. HBCUs also account for some of our top research universities in the nation and will be a critical partner when it comes to the technological innovations needed to power our 21^st century economy.

As we look to make key investments in the semiconductor sector and more broadly, we must ensure that all communities, particularly Black and Brown communities, are not overlooked, and HBCUs will play a major role in ensuring that we live up to that objective.

And as we build more fabs and semiconductor facilities in the United States, we are going to need a pipeline of skilled workers. The incredible graduates of our HBCUs are perfect candidates for these good jobs.

But if we want to create this pipeline, we need our STEM students to learn about the semiconductor industry early on.

They need to understand the thrill of working in a high-tech clean room.

They need to harness the key research and development skills provided by our illustrious HBCUs.

And they need to know that this work is a great way to serve their country given the importance of chips to our national security.

Part of this falls on industry—we need our partners in industry to invest in awareness initiatives, internships, and apprenticeships to expose these brilliant young minds to the semiconductor sector early on.

A big part of that falls on the federal government as well, but I am proud to say the Biden Administration is laser-focused on doing this necessary work.

Our friends at the Department of Labor recently awarded a grant to the National Institute for Innovation and Technology to serve as a national intermediary for apprenticeships in the semiconductor sector. This group will be working with companies across the country to increase apprenticeship opportunities in this sector.

And at Commerce, when CHIPS funding passes, we will have funds and personnel devoted to creating talent pipelines into the industry. The House’s America COMPETES Act includes an amendment from Congresswoman Beatty to create an Office of Opportunity and Inclusion within CHIPS to help coordinate investments in these talent pipelines, with an emphasis on historically undeserved communities.

We are already engaged in numerous conversations with industry on how to meet their talent needs and how to create equitable pipelines into these good-paying, family sustaining jobs.

At the Department of Commerce, we are also already working closely with HBCUs to ensure that all Americans are able to participate in our increasingly digital economy. For example, the Commerce Department’s Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program is a $268 million grant program to HBCUs and MSIs for the purchase of broadband internet access service and to hire and train information technology personnel.

These programs also build on the work the Biden Administration is doing to recognize and uplift HBCUs. Last September, President Biden signed an Executive Order that directs the entire Federal Government to strengthen its ties with our HBCU community. We are committed to this mandate and continuing our partnership with CAU and other HBCUs as we pursue an equitable economic recovery together.

Thank you again for all the work you do for our community and our country and I look forward to today’s discussion. With that, I will turn it back to Dr. French.