Trump Administration Launches Foundry School to Build the Workforce Behind America’s Manufacturing Comeback

Office of the Spokesperson

On Thursday, September 3, the Trump Administration will launch Foundry School, a national program to train the entrepreneurs, engineers, technicians, and industrial leaders needed to rebuild American manufacturing. Vice President JD Vance will headline the launch event. Foundry School is a project of Pax Silica, the Department’s flagship multilateral initiative to secure trusted global supply chains for the technologies that will define the next century.

President Trump’s reindustrialization agenda has already brought trillions of dollars in industrial investment to American soil. Foundry School will focus on turning that investment into jobs. American manufacturers will need an estimated 3.8 million skilled workers by 2033 in semiconductors, defense, energy, and beyond, and Foundry School exists to make sure Americans fill those jobs. The program will put American workers first by equipping them with the skills needed to bring manufacturing jobs home and build careers in industries critical to our nation’s economic security.

The launch event, which begins at 8:20 a.m. at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, will feature remarks by senior Administration officials, university leaders and industry executives, as well as a photo opportunity.

Foundry School was announced as a Pax Silica initiative by Under Secretary Helberg at the Pax Summit on June 25, 2026. Announced as a workforce development partnership with Stanford University, Foundry School is anchored in a first-of-its-kind advanced manufacturing curriculum for American students developed by Stanford that also features keystone lectures provided by seven universities with which Stanford has collaborated. Those universities are Arizona State University, Georgia Tech, Ohio State University, Penn State, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Kansas, and Vanderbilt University. Across these eight campuses, the program will run 17 sessions, each taught by founders and CEOs from advanced manufacturing enterprises. These leaders will be drawn from the United States and Pax Silica participants, including the Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and India, covering everything it takes to build and run a world-class manufacturing enterprise. It is a single course to ensure that the American workforce benefits from America’s industrial renaissance.