As a H1b employee I constantly see some posts blaming H1b as cheap labour to replace US work force, I would say it is totally wrong.
- TI almost exclusively hire non US ncg only if the personnel has a PhD degree recent years. For someone who is not familiar with the H1b process, it is a lottery which has a winning rate of less than 40% and any ncg who does not win H1b in 3 years have to leave USA unless they can proof that they have extraordinary ability to be qualified for O1 visa. A NCG with masters degree but no publications will definitely not be qualified for O1 if they are not lucky enough to be selected in H1b lottery (and PhD is likely to qualify), which make it risky.
- Everyone who has searched internal openings on myhrtools would notice that every posting is showing immigration eligibility. Only job postings at Kilby/ATD/Some BU are eligible for immigration. There would be NO H1b in fab technicians, and only very limited H1b in fab engineers (as far as I know only PIs, not even for PEs). Mass layoffs in fab environment is nothing to do with H1b since none of the jobs there are "replaced" by H1b. BU H1bs got hit hard in September, suggesting layoff is there no matter whether you are a US personnel.
- It is MUCH MORE DIFFICULT for a non US ncg to get a job compared to US personnels. Considering current political situations, no employers want to hire someone who costs more to maintain immigration status and are risky to be influenced by immigration policies. If the candidates are equally qualified, 95% the hire will be the US personnel. As said before, openings that are eligible for immigration are all high level positions from Kilby/ATD/Some Bu, etc. The qualification standard is high and most likely it is for MS/PhD only. There is only one reason that TI still hire opt students which will eventually change to H1b, that is international PhD graduates are usually more qualified for the jobs that are eligible for immigration.
- US has 700 to 800k H1bs in total, which is ways smaller than the tech industry employee count. They are making up only a small portion, and every major company hiring H1b will have a much higher standard on them. They are subject to political environment change and job market change as numerous companies including Walmart stop hiring H1b starting this year. In TI, new H1bs are even not eligible for a fab engineer job. They have a much smaller job pool compared to US personnels and they are much vulnerable towards layoffs.
So stop blaming H1b in the company. Tariff and economy, development of AI, the upper management... There are far more to do with the layoff.