Lam Research Corp. (Nasdaq: LRCX) on Sep 12 announced that 20 Indian universities will be enabled with the Semiverse Solutions virtual innovation infrastructure to train and develop future engineers for the semiconductor industry. Announced at the SEMICON India conference at Noida, the addition marks a major milestone in Lam’s efforts introduced in 2023, to contribute to upskilling up to 60,000 engineers over the next 10 years in India. Twenty universities were shortlisted from a list of close to 75 that have signed up for the program.
“Lam is committed to fostering the growth of the Indian semiconductor ecosystem. The addition of Semiverse Solutions virtual semiconductor environments to the selected 20 academic institutions will reach more than 2,600 students this academic year across the country and demonstrates significant progress towards our initiatives to help ready the next generation of semiconductor talent in India,” said Rangesh Raghavan, corporate vice president and general manager at Lam Research India.
The 20 universities will be enabled to use SEMulator3D®, a powerful 3D semiconductor process and integration modelling software that is part of the Semiverse Solutions™ platform, with a goal to accelerate India’s semiconductor education and workforce development objectives. The software is used by the world’s largest semiconductor companies, manufacturers, and foundries to model complete process flows and predict downstream ramifications of process changes that would otherwise require build-and-test cycles in the fab. Using SEMulator3D® is expected to help students learn to develop process flows and perform automated virtual experiments at significantly lower cost, and environmental impact.
After a successful pilot at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Lam signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and IISc for the broad deployment of Semiverse Solutions to key universities in the country. Lam has previously announced a contribution of $29 million in software licenses towards the MoU, while ISM would support the establishment of infrastructure and operational costs. IISc will “train-the-trainers” at the selected universities, while Lam will deploy a dedicated team of employees to support the expansion across the country.
“Launched during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US in 2023, the Semiverse Solutions training program is critical to achieving our skilling objectives to develop the talent needed to support the anticipated growth of the semiconductor industry,” said Akash Tripathi, CEO, ISM. “This program is an excellent example of what can be achieved when government, industry, and academia work towards a common end.”
The semiconductor industry faces a major talent shortage to meet anticipated future demand. Educating future semiconductor engineers is even more daunting as it is cost-prohibitive for academic institutions to provide physical access to the most advanced nanotechnologies. Simulating real-world labs virtually provides greater democratization of engineering skills training, improved sustainability, and greater access to new talent pools in an increasingly computer-aided design world.
