South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT will set up an industry-academia cooperation hub in the AI semiconductor field at Seoul National University and train master's and PhD-level specialists.

The ministry, together with the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP), held an opening ceremony on Sept. 29 at SNU's Semiconductor Joint Research Center for the AI Semiconductor Innovation Research Institute.

The institute is an industry-academia linked programme to cultivate talent in leading AI semiconductor technologies, promoted as part of a national policy task to secure "super-gap" AI leading technologies and talent. The ministry selected Yonsei University and Sungkyunkwan University as innovation research institutes last year and additionally selected Hanyang University and Seoul National University this year.

The institute will run research and education programmes tailored to industrial sites based on industry-academia cooperation involving large firms, small and medium-sized companies, fabless firms and universities. It will train practical talent so students can be deployed immediately at industrial sites after graduation. From this year, it will require the development of research projects based on neural processing units (NPUs) to strengthen practical capabilities in AI semiconductor design and use.

SNU's AI Semiconductor Innovation Research Institute will build an industry-academia cooperation system for AI semiconductors that covers the full cycle from R&D to technology evaluation and verification and linkage to industry demand. It will also run a talent development programme that links education, research, internships and employment through joint research and personnel exchanges with partner companies.

The institute is headed by Professor Su-jeong Ryu (류수정), who has more than 20 years of industry experience, and is made up of five research centres. LG Electronics, FuriosaAI, GenosCube Korea, AnalogAI and Squeezebits will participate as partner institutions. At each centre, university researchers, company employees and master's and PhD students will conduct joint research that reflects demand from industrial sites.

The ministry will provide up to 2 billion won a year to the SNU institute for up to 6 years. Support this year, the first year, is 1 billion won. Starting with 10 people this year, it will train at least 110 master's and PhD-level AI semiconductor specialists by adding 20 people each year thereafter. It will also support specialised technical education and company dispatch programmes.

Lee Do-gyu (이도규), the ministry's director general for Information and Communications Policy, said, "To build a K-AI semiconductor full-package ecosystem, it is essential to pool next-generation AI semiconductor technology capabilities." He said, "We will strengthen industry-academia cooperation centred on the SNU AI Semiconductor Innovation Research Institute to create world-class research outcomes."