The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong-ho) announced on the sixteenth that it is going to hold the ‘1st AI Semiconductor Technology Talent Selection Competition’ with the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) and the Korea ICT Promotion Association (KAIT) to expand opportunities for the invention and employment of domestic artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor talent.
This competition goals to find talent within the AI semiconductor field and recruit them to major domestic AI semiconductor firms. The Semiconductor Engineering Society and the AI Semiconductor Collaboration Forum will form a judging panel to foster key personnel who can contribute to technological innovation and development, and support customized talent recruitment.
Anyone fascinated with the AI semiconductor industry can participate, and the preliminary competition will likely be divided into 4 categories: ‘Mobile Edge’, ‘Server’, ‘Design’, and ‘Small Language Model (sLM)’. Starting with the applying period on the twelfth, the competition teams will likely be chosen through the primary document screening, and the primary winner will likely be chosen on the awards ceremony after the ultimate presentation evaluation in December.
Specifically, 11 leading domestic AI semiconductor firms, including Nextchip, DeepX, Riot, MangoBoost Korea, Sapion, Korea, OpenEdge Technology, UXFactory, Telechips, FuriosaAI, Future Design System, and HyperExcel, will participate to directly present problems to participants and evaluate their solving capabilities.
Afterwards, the participants’ problem-solving and implementation skills will likely be evaluated to pick the ultimate 9 teams as winners. The winning teams will receive advantages resembling prize money (grand prize 40 million won), mentoring, and employment consulting.
NIPA President Heo Seong-wook said, “This competition will likely be the primary opportunity in Korea to find the very best AI semiconductor talents,” and “Although Korea’s status within the AI semiconductor field continues to be lacking, this competition will function a very important stepping stone for technological advancement and securing human resources.”
Reporter Jang Se-min semim99@aitimes.com
