Teams composed of students affiliated with the research lab, including graduate and undergraduate students, are eligible to apply.

The Korea Semiconductor Industry Association is hosting the 'Korea Semiconductor Design Contest' to foster excellent semiconductor design talent, discover and enhance semiconductor design technologies, and promote technology transfer and startups through industry-academia collaboration in the semiconductor design field.

Eligibility is open to individuals currently enrolled in domestic or international universities (including graduate schools) in the field of semiconductor design, as well as teams consisting of a faculty advisor and students affiliated with a research lab in the semiconductor design field. Participants and teams must select a free topic and submit a completed chip or FPGA (Programmable FPGA) or a design program implementing a semiconductor algorithm using a programming language (C, C++, JAVA, HDL, etc.). In particular, undergraduate students may submit a comprehensive design project developed based on the theory of Capstone Design.



An evaluation committee composed of experts from industry, academia, and research institutes selects the winners through preliminary, evaluation, and final rounds of judging. The selection criteria comprehensively consider the design item and creativity, the difficulty of development, design techniques, and performance excellence, corporate usability and marketability, and the completeness of the design. The final results will be announced in September, and the awards ceremony is scheduled to be held in October.

Winners and winning teams will be awarded the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award (1 point), the Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office Award (2 points), special awards presented by Samsung Electronics, Silicon Mytus, Silicon Works, and SK Hynix (1 point each) (1 point per company), the Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association Award (2 points), and prize money and awards worth a total of 12 million won.

A support program for winners is also provided. Opportunities include: startup support such as prototype production and investment linkage; technology transfer support for the winning works; introduction of the winning works through participation in technology forums and seminars; and participation in a domestic semiconductor exhibition (SEDEX 2017) with a booth.

Those wishing to participate should submit the application form, design work, and technical description to the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association via email or mail by July 31.