Two researchers from Sonora are spending the school year at Arizona State University, to see how their state fits into Arizona\u2019s blooming chip industry.<\/p>\n
That question is at the heart of Edna Mar\u00eda Villarreal and Humberto Garc\u00eda\u2019s yearlong residency at ASU. The two economists from Universidad de Sonora and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte will study how policy could help the two states work together better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s already a fact\u201d that the semiconductor industry is coalescing around Arizona, says Garc\u00eda. The latest example: Amkor Technology breaking ground on a $7 million chip plant.<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda says one way Sonora could get involved is by supplying renewable energy. The state\u2019s many days of sunlight and relatively inexpensive land make it a good bet for solar farms. One farm near Puerto Pe\u00f1asco could become Latin America\u2019s largest when the project is complete. It\u2019s just just miles from the Arizona border.<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda suggests loosening restrictions on both sides to send some of that energy to Arizona\u2019s chip factories. It\u2019s crucial to the environment that these companies use renewable energy and recycled water, Garc\u00eda says, and he sees a future in which Sonora can help.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t plan well, we\u2019re going to increase the amount of energy, emissions and pollutants [with these factories],\u201d Garc\u00eda says. He hopes the region can avoid a future in which chip factories end up being an ecological burden for the Arizona-Sonora region.<\/p>\n
In addition to joining Arizona in the energy sector, Villarreal hopes Sonora can also take part in the growing labor needs of the semiconductor industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to need a big workforce,\u201d Villarreal said. She sees big opportunities to train Sonorans to meet those workforce needs, with people specially trained to jump into the semiconductor sector. Her research will focus on ways to develop Sonora\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n
State and federal officials in Mexico also hope Sonorans aren\u2019t left behind as the United States continues to seek to reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Mexico also looks to bolster the sector inside its own borders. Sonora is one of three states Mexico has identified for the future of its national semiconductor design program, known as Kutsari, partially because of its proximity to Arizona.<\/p>\n
As the industry grows, the two states are going to need to work together, Garc\u00eda said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be disconnected,\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cIf things go well in Arizona, they go well in Sonora, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two researchers from Sonora are spending the school year at Arizona State University, to see how their state…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":341219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-341218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115458626416228561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}