Top semiconductor industry names join Purdue’s Semiconductor Week events

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University will host semiconductor industry leaders on campus and in Washington, D.C., as part of the university’s third annual Semiconductor Week.

Representatives of SK hynix, MediaTek, McKinsey & Company and Applied Research Institute will be among the speakers at the SEMI Breakfast Forum on Oct. 29 in the Purdue Memorial Union. SK hynix announced plans in April to build an advanced packaging fabrication and R&D facility for AI products in the Purdue Research Park.

On the agenda for the SEMI Breakfast Forum are discussions about how Indiana and Midwest partners are bolstering the semiconductor industry and leveraging the exceptional talent pipeline to drive key innovations impacting global markets.

“Bringing important industry representatives together on campus serves to underscore Purdue’s commitment to the Midwest and to the nation and signifies Purdue’s leadership in semiconductor workforce, innovation and policy,” said Mark Lundstrom, chief semiconductor officer for the university. “Discussions like this are foundational to address national semiconductor needs for years to come.”

The breakfast is organized by Purdue and the SEMI Midwest Chapter.

Semiconductor Week will continue with a meeting of the Semiconductor Degree Leadership Board, which was one of the first events to be featured as part of Semiconductor Week in 2022. This year’s meeting will take place Oct. 30-31 in Washington, D.C.

The leadership board offers industry guidance to the Purdue Semiconductor Degrees Program, which was announced in May 2022. The board is composed of executives from more than 35 leading microelectronics companies who will hear updates on workforce development programs as part of this year’s meeting as well as engage in discussions and offer feedback related to long-term company trends and strategies to develop robust talent.

The week’s events come in a year that featured Purdue announcements of an online Master of Science in data science and an online Master of Science in artificial intelligence, which features two majors. This roundup highlights some of Purdue’s leading semiconductor news.

For students, Semiconductor Week will feature ASML Days on Oct. 29 and 30. The networking events will include representatives from ASML, a Purdue partner and a leader in innovation within the global semiconductor industry. Students can sign up for meetings with diversity groups as well as representatives from the Summer Training, Awareness, and Readiness for Semiconductors program and the Semiconductor Student Alliance — Purdue Chapter.

Applied Materials, the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world, will present to Purdue students as part of Changing the World With Chips — Introduction to Semiconductors, on Oct. 31. The title of the talk is “Semiconductors Overview.”

The Semiconductor Student Alliance also is hosting its inaugural, student-run conference, Students For CHIPS: Building Tomorrow’s Workforce, on Nov. 2. The event features a talk by Peter Bermel, Purdue professor and co-director of Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement, as well as intern panels and research presentations. Students from several universities in the Midwest will participate. More information is available by emailing ssa@purdue.edu.

Purdue is a national leader in research and education involving microelectronics materials, devices, chip design, tool development, manufacturing, packaging and sustainability, spanning the semiconductor ecosystem in software and hardware with long-standing faculty excellence. Strategic initiatives — such as the large-scale Semiconductor Degrees Program — are intended to prepare the next generation of semiconductor industry workers, a cornerstone for advancing the field.

Purdue’s growing semiconductor innovation ecosystem is one of four key pillars of Purdue Computes, a comprehensive initiative that also includes positioning the Department of Computer Science as a top 10 national program, becoming a leader in the field of physical artificial intelligence, and advancing quantum science and engineering to create future technologies that enable unparalleled excellence at scale.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.