Purdue held its second Semiconductor Week Oct. 17-26 to showcase its continued leadership and commitment to strengthen expertise in microelectronics and semiconductors in the United States.

The event began in Washington, D.C., where on Oct. 17 with several Purdue Engineering faculty in attendance, the first Microelectronics Commons annual meeting was held, launching the $33 million Silicon Crossroads Hub.

A large audience attended Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series featuring Intel Corp. Chief Executive Patrick Gelsinger, on Oct. 17 in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. The public event, titled “Welcome to the Siliconomy: Semiconductors and the Supply Chain,” kicked off a lineup of campus activities marking Purdue Semiconductor Week on campus. Photo Credit: Cristina Farmus

Intel Corporation CEO Patrick Gelsinger kicked off the local activities, also known as the Silicon Summit, during the Presidential Lecture Series. Gelsinger presented “Welcome to the Siliconomy: Semiconductors and the Supply Chain” on Oct. 17 in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse.

The Institute for Advanced System Integration and Packaging (ASIP) was launched on Oct. 18 in partnership with Cadence Design Systems, imec, Osaka University and the Semiconductor Research Corporation. Led by Ganesh Subbarayan, the James G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering, ASIP will support the future of microelectronic product development to enable faster designing and building of microelectronic systems.

Purdue hosted the inaugural meeting of the UPWARDS Network for workforce advancement and research and development in semiconductors. Photo Credit: Cristina Farmus

Also on Oct. 18, representatives from the U.S.-Japan UPWARDS (University Partnership for Workforce Advancement and Research and Development in Semiconductors) for the Future met on campus. This inaugural meeting was the result of Purdue’s landmark international agreement, signed in May 2023, to establish the UPWARDS Network. Other partners include Micron and Tokyo Electron and other educational institutions in the United States and Japan.

As announced at the G7 meeting in May 2023 in Japan, Micron Technology and Tokyo Electron US, as founding industry partners, the U.S. National Science Foundation and universities together will invest over $60 million for the five-year project. Other U.S. university participants are Boise State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Washington, and Virginia Tech, while the Japanese university participants are Hiroshima University, Kyushu University, Nagoya University, Tohoku University and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The Purdue Semiconductor Degree Leadership Board visited NSWC Crane in October and held their fall meeting onsite. The board includes many Chief Executive Officers and Vice Presidents of semiconductor companies and was established to provide input for Purdue University's semiconductors education programs. Purdue launched the nation's first comprehensive Semiconductor Degrees Program in 2022. Photo Provided

On Oct. 19, key international semiconductor partners gathered, and on Oct. 24-25, the Purdue Semiconductor Degree Leadership board meeting commenced.

The event concluded with ASML Day on Oct. 26 at the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. ASML, which refers to Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography, is a Dutch multinational corporation founded in 1984 as a joint venture between Philips and ASM International to develop lithography systems for the growing semiconductor market. Today, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chip-making equipment. Featured speakers were ASML’s Ronald Goossens, a strategy consultant for the applications business line, and Anthony “Tony” Yen (BSEE '85), vice president and head of the Technology Development Center.

Purdue University Semiconductor Degrees Leadership Board members visited Purdue on Oct. 24 and 25 to hear about the university’s workforce development progress and provide input to improve and scale-up our programs. Photo Provided