I've been designing semiconductor chips for 25 years in the US. For the last 20 years all the companies I have worked at have been fabless. We send the mask data to TSMC or Samsung to manufacture.

I sit in front of a computer at a desk all day and get to work from home 3 days a week. We get plenty of new grad design engineers from college.

But do young people want to work in manufacturing plants being on call when the production line goes down? There are thousands of technician jobs that are more 2 year associate degree types needed as well.

I've also seen stories that because of the small number of fabs it is difficult to switch jobs because there are not many options. This pushes down salaries as well. In contrast to design where there are hundreds of companies which you can leave and go to and get significant salary increases.

As with most jobs, more pay and better working conditions will attract more people.