The worldwide chip sector is still woefully short of women

Diversity drives innovation and reduces the risks of groupthink

- Catherine Thorbecke

At a massive semiconductor trade show in Tokyo last week, I watched robots shoot hoops and play table tennis and witnessed an impressive lineup of executives share their visions on everything from quantum computing to artificial intelligence (AI). More than 1,000 companies representing nearly every facet of the supply chain gathered to show off their latest technologies to an estimated 100,000 attendees. But as I walked over from the local train station amid a sea of men in suits, I wondered where all the women were.

It's not unusual for the semiconductor industry, and tech sector in general, to feel like a man's world. That's why I was heartened to see that about 12% of the speakers this year were women. This representation sounds dismal, but it's a lot better than some of the other panels and seminars I've attended recently in Tokyo.

This uneven reality is not a fault of the convention or unique to Asia. The lack of women in the chip sector is a global conundrum. A report last year found that the median of women representation in the workforce lies between 20% to 29%, and the percentage of women in technical roles was in the 10% to 19% range. These figures shrink even further when it comes to management roles.