The semiconductor market is projected to reach US$1-1.5 trillion in 2026 by organizations such as SEMI and WSTS. As the global semiconductor industry charges through a multi-billion-dollar buildout across the US, Europe, and Asia, semiconductor fabs are scaling faster than ever before. Yet, behind the headline-grabbing investments in new mega-fabs lies a quiet vulnerability: the industry is shedding decades of irreplaceable institutional knowledge faster than it can train incoming talent.
Vincent DeGiorgio, a semiconductor risk management veteran with over four decades of field experience, has spent the last five years working to solve that exact problem. His upcoming 34-chapter, 800-page handbook, set to be published by Elsevier, aggregates contributions from over 100 global experts to document the “tribal knowledge” that keeps modern fabs running safely.
TechSoda got an online interview with DeGiorgio to discuss the core frameworks of fab risk, the practical friction points slowing down global onshoring projects, and how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping chip manufacturing.
The handbook was written specifically for engineers, managers, consultants, insurers, equipment suppliers, and university students entering the semiconductor industry with little or no previous semiconductor manufacturing experience.
The Semiconductor Risk Triangle
For decades, risk management inside semiconductor fabs operated in silos. Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) teams focused on toxic gas and chemical exposures, property insurers evaluated physical assets, and operational leads managed business continuity. DeGiorgio’s central framework—The Semiconductor Risk Triangle—bridges these three domains into a unified strategy.
“Most semiconductor manufacturing books focus primarily on the fabrication process,” DeGiorgio explains. “This is the first book that combines EHS, physical assets, and business interruption potential into one actionable guide.”
Unlike traditional semiconductor manufacturing textbooks that focus primarily on fabrication processes, the handbook examines semiconductor manufacturing from a comprehensive risk management perspective, integrating environmental, safety and health, physical asset protection, and business continuity.
When evaluating operational hazards across this triangle, DeGiorgio highlights five recurring threats that every fab operator must manage:
Contamination: Gas, liquid, or chemical wafer contamination remains the single most frequent operational failure in fab environments.
Power Interruptions: Even micro-blips in electrical supply can destroy active wafer runs and trigger massive financial losses.
Liquid Leakage: Earthquake-induced damage, mechanical failures, and piping or equipment leaks can result in contamination and equipment damage.
Fires and Explosions: Chemical and solvent volatility present ongoing risks, requiring strict containment and active suppression systems.
Natural Hazards: Regional environmental threats, such as typhoons and seismic activity in Taiwan, demand customized resilience planning.
Support Equipment Failures: While main processing tools get the most attention, auxiliary support systems experience frequent mechanical breakdowns.
DeGiorgio notes a particular vulnerability in bulk gas distribution—such as nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen lines—which are often managed by third-party vendors. “If there’s an upset at the vendor’s plant and it isn’t communicated instantly, contamination flows directly into the process wafers. That coordination has to be seamless.”
The Onshoring Bottleneck: Regulatory Friction and Codes
As Asian chip manufacturers build greenfield sites across North America, many run into unexpected, costly delays. According to DeGiorgio, these roadblocks rarely stem from pure engineering issues; rather, they arise from navigating local building codes, Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) regulations.
“When a foreign company tries to bring in equipment that was manufactured and certified in Asia, they run into major local authority reviews in the US. It slows the entire schedule down,” says DeGiorgio.
A frequent mistake foreign fab developers make is relying on overseas design-build contractors who lack deep familiarity with US regulatory landscapes. “Using a US-based design-build company already familiar with local codes makes the path significantly smoother. You want to eliminate expensive surprises right upfront.”
AI in the Fab: Monitoring Tool vs. Unvalidated Risk
As fabs embrace automation and advanced packaging, AI has become essential for tracking subtle process deviations that humans might miss. However, DeGiorgio cautions that a dangerous trend is emerging among early-career engineers who rely blindly on AI-generated outputs.
“AI is incredible for organizing, formatting, and gathering reference data,” DeGiorgio notes, having used AI tools to help organize references during his book project. “But you must validate the results. In risk engineering, a single incorrect sentence or misapplied metric from an AI tool can lead to catastrophic design or operational errors.”
DeGiorgio emphasized that AI should enhance engineering judgment, not replace it, and that technical decisions should always be validated using authoritative references, applicable codes and standards, and experienced professional review.
Because AI models often pull from unverified online sources, DeGiorgio foresees an emerging market for human-certified “AI validation services,” alongside a renewed reliance on authoritative, peer-reviewed handbooks as ground-truth sources.
Preserving 40 Years of “Tribal Knowledge”
DeGiorgio’s own career spans the evolution of modern microelectronics—from working on 4-inch wafer fabs at General Electric in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park in 1982, to spending 30 years at risk management giant FM, followed by five years with Samsung in Seoul.
His upcoming handbook began in an unlikely setting: a two-week hotel quarantine in Bangkok in 2022. The project began with a simple goal: to preserve decades of semiconductor manufacturing knowledge before it was lost as experienced professionals retired or moved on.
What started as a solo writing project grew into a global effort involving over 100 contributors who submitted 1,600 pages of technical documentation, condensed into an 800-page practical handbook.
“If you don’t publish it, the information is lost when that person leaves,” DeGiorgio says. “The target audience for this book is the incoming generation with limited experience. If we can give them practical checklists and decades of tribal knowledge, we can keep these highly complex, extremely high-value facilities safe and insurable as the industry doubles in size.”
As semiconductor manufacturing continues to expand globally, DeGiorgio hopes the handbook will serve as a practical reference that helps engineers design, build, and operate safer, more reliable, and more resilient manufacturing facilities while preserving the industry’s collective knowledge for future generations.