The University of Washington’s College of Engineering has received a $12 million gift from a semiconductor company whose chairman earned a master’s degree from the school more than 45 years ago.
The donation is from Winbond Electronics Corporation America, a U.S. subsidiary of Taiwan-based Winbond Electronics Corp. Arthur Y.C. Chiao is Winbond’s chairman and CEO and has been with the company since 1987. He earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from the UW in 1980.
The gift will create the Winbond Endowed Fund for Excellence in the College of Engineering to support student scholarships, faculty recruitment and retention, research and interdisciplinary collaboration.
“Arthur Chiao’s vision, leadership and lifelong commitment to the University of Washington make this gift especially meaningful,” Nancy Albritton, dean of the College of Engineering, said in a statement.
Chiao envisions the new fund “as a catalyst for breakthrough discoveries” that will allow the college to “pursue bold initiatives and respond to evolving opportunities in engineering, technology and fields of future strategic importance,” according to a UW release. That includes semiconductors, AI, quantum tech and advanced manufacturing.
The College of Engineering is among the UW’s largest colleges, enrolling 10,136 students last fall and employing a faculty of 350. The college says it is the fifth-largest producer of electrical and computer engineering graduates in the U.S.
“Seattle is a gateway to the Pacific Northwest of North America, and the University of Washington will play an important role in connecting future technology innovation between North America and East Asia,” Chiao said.
The gift comes amid a push to bring chipmaking closer to home. Taiwan is the global center of manufacturing for the most advanced semiconductor chips, and the United States has been working to reduce its dependence on East Asian chip production. In 2022, Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act to incentivize domestic fabrication, R&D work and workforce training.