How the Cooper Hewitt’s Made in America Exhibit Shines a Light on U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing

Walking through the Made in America exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum on the Upper East Side’s Museum Mile, I stared at photographs of how everyday objects are made. From the footballs used in the NFL to a pair of New Balance shoes like the ones I was wearing, and even a conveyor belt of the yellow Peeps marshmallows I eat precisely once a year at Easter.

As I made my way further into the exhibit, the manufacturing processes I was observing in photographs evolved from more traditional ones to more technologically advanced ones.

Until I came across the photo I had been looking for.

The photo

It's a strikingly round silicon wafer sorter in GlobalFoundries’ fab in Malta, New York. Engineer Lydia Fox, gowned in the proper cleanroom attire, peers into the machine. The moment, captured by photographer Chris Payne, offers a glimpse into a moment most people will never get to see in their lives.

“Even though the fab is mostly automated, humans must keep a watchful eye to ensure that everything runs smoothly,” notes Payne.

Despite manufacturing processes growing increasingly automated, including the ones that images throughout the exhibit capture, it’s a reminder that even in the most advanced environments where machinery executes with precision at a microscopic level, humans still play critical roles in the process to ensure perfection.

Pulling back the curtain on chipmaking

Semiconductor chips are one of the most essential technologies of our time. Up until the pandemic, when shortages disrupted everything from car manufacturing to consumer electronics, awareness of what chips even were was limited. Yet they power nearly every aspect of modern life. Think about the smartphone in your hand, the Alexa on your desk, the car you drive, and even critical medical devices you use.

While awareness of the semiconductor industry has grown more mainstream, the reality of how chips are made remains largely invisible. Most of us experience chips in the form of faster devices, smarter features, more connectivity, but rarely as the result of an astonishingly complex manufacturing process.

That’s what makes Payne’s work inside GlobalFoundries so compelling. His photographs transform what many think of as an abstract, highly technical process into something tangible. From the cleanroom to the wafers to the FOUPs (Front Opening Unified Pods) running overhead, the shots underscore just how intricate semiconductor manufacturing is.  

When museums become modern PR

I’ve landed companies in the headlines of top-tier business press, launched category-defining products, and even supported the opening of a basketball arena named after a client. Yet, I can confidently say having photographs of a company I work with in a renowned New York City museum is a first for me.

But museums have long been institutions that shape public understanding – where people walk in ready to learn something. That shift in audience mindset matters. The inclusion of GlobalFoundries in a museum like the Cooper Hewitt, dedicated exclusively to design, reflects a growing recognition that advanced manufacturing isn’t just an industrial story, but one of culture, innovation and society.

By placing semiconductor manufacturing alongside more familiar forms of production, the exhibit builds a new kind of awareness of the industry with those perhaps not as familiar with it. Students, tourists, designers, educators, the curious community of New York City. Most of whom rely on semiconductors every day without ever considering where they come from or how they’re made.

At a time when conversations around domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience make up the daily news, this kind of cultural integration bridges the gap.

Why it’s worth seeing

In celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Made in America exhibition is on view at the Cooper Hewitt until September, bringing together more than 70 of Payne’s photographs to illustrate the design ingenuity and innovation of American factories.

If you’re in the area, I’d strongly encourage you to stop by. It’s a rare opportunity to see behind the curtain of industries that typically remain out of sight, and will reshape how you think about the things you use every day.

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