The surprising reason few Americans are getting chips jobs now

Giant factories are rising up in the desert all around this city. It’s ground zero for President Biden’s massive bet that he can bring back to America one of the 21st century’s most important manufacturing jobs: making semiconductor chips. Congress approved $53 billion in funding, and the White House has just announced preliminary agreements to give billions in grants to corporations such as Intel, TSMC and Micron. Now comes the greatest challenge of all: finding enough workers to make it a reality.

Already, the companies have struggled to hire enough construction workers, especially welders...