South Korea, Cultivation from Design to Production: Hybrid Engineers Are Being Cultivated for the Fabless Industry

To address the global competition in AI semiconductors and the serious labor shortage in the local system semiconductor sector, a comprehensive training program has been launched in South Korea. This program is not limited to theoretical chip design; it aims for fabless (design-focused) engineers to deeply understand foundry (production-focused) hardware processes and the clean room ecosystem. In line with the country's technology development strategy, intensive efforts are being made to cultivate 'constructive' or hybrid engineers who can bridge the gap between design and production stages and possess the integrated competencies required by the sector.

Coordinated by the Korea Fabless Industry Association, this initiative carries out the '2026 Future Job Experience Fabless Jump-Up Program 2nd Period' in cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The events and trainings were primarily conducted at the Korea Nanotechnology Institute (KANC) in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, one of South Korea's important technology centers. Within the scope of the program, approximately 50 participants, consisting of unemployed or newly graduated young people aged between 18 and 34, joined a six-week intensive training process.

The training curriculum consists of two main pillars, academic lectures and field trips, designed to strengthen the link between theoretical knowledge and field application. While students receive in-depth theoretical training on the basics of semiconductor device technologies and general production processes in morning sessions, in afternoon sessions they visited the semiconductor production line (clean room) within the institute and participated in a rare factory tour. During this visit, they had the opportunity to observe on-site the critical infrastructure and working mechanisms of 8 main production stages, ranging from lithography equipment that forms microcircuits to etching machines.

Participating students and instructors emphasize that the most critical aspect of the program is that it offers an experience covering the entire semiconductor life cycle from 'design to production process'. Today, to design chips with high efficiency and low power consumption demanded by major tech companies, fabless engineers need to do more than just know how to draw; they must understand the hardware process characteristics and physical constraints of production (foundry) very well. In this context, the program aims to enable participants to have both design and production perspectives by combining theoretical education with factory tours.

Following the completion of the field training, participants will be dispatched to leading domestic fabless and design house firms such as Gaonchips, Nextchip, and Telechips starting next week. At this stage, project-based and intensive on-the-job training will be conducted, covering topics such as circuit design and module integration on cards identical to the development environment in real industrial settings. Covering a total of 210 hours of practical training, this section provides students with the opportunity to learn by experiencing all mechanisms and operations from the planning of a chip to its design and final production. Thus, the goal is for them to grow as 'constructive' talents who grasp the entire process and combine different disciplines, rather than being experts in only one field.