Lam Research Corporation, a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry, has recently 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. The addition, announced at the SEMICON India conference in Noida, is a significant milestone in Lam’s efforts, which began in 2023, to contribute to the upskilling of up to 60,000 engineers in India over the next decade. Twenty universities were chosen from over 75 registered for the programme.
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. The company has previously announced a contribution of $29 million in software licenses towards the MoU, while ISM would support establishing infrastructure and operational costs. IISc will “train the trainers” at the selected universities, while Lam will deploy a dedicated team to support nationwide expansion.
Speaking about the latest development, Rangesh Raghavan, Corporate Vice President and General Manager at Lam Research India, said:
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.
The 20 universities will be able to use SEMulator3D®, a powerful 3D semiconductor process and integration modelling software part of the Semiverse Solutions™ platform, to accelerate India’s semiconductor education and workforce development objectives. The world’s largest semiconductor companies, manufacturers, and foundries use the software 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.
Akash Tripathi, CEO of ISM, added:
Launched during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US in 2023, the Semiverse Solutions training programme is critical to achieving our skilling objectives to develop the talent needed to support the anticipated growth of the semiconductor industry. This programme is an excellent example of what can be achieved when government, industry, and academia work together.
The announcement is the latest in a series of actions from Lam intended to foster innovation, collaboration and the talent pipeline in India’s growing semiconductor ecosystem. Earlier this week, the firm launched the Lam Research Challenge competition to inspire university engineering students. It broke ground in Bengaluru on what is expected to be one of the most advanced systems labs in the country at Lam’s India Center for Engineering. This new facility will expand capabilities for designing, on-tool testing, and validating semiconductor manufacturing processes, potentially shortening engineering design cycles.
Lam also announced earlier this year its plans to expand its global supply chain to include India and is exploring India-based suppliers who can collaborate to fulfil the need for precision components, custom parts, high-purity gas delivery systems, and other assemblies that go into cutting-edge semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment.
