Students from 10 European countries who had concluded an integrated circuit (IC) design summer training program in Taiwan said that it left them impressed and looking to the future.
The program, organized by the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI), selected European students with IC design knowledge to come to Taiwan for a month of training in four areas — analog circuit design, microelectromechanical chip design, silicon photonic chip design and digital circuit design.
“It [Taiwan] is the biggest and most advanced semiconductor industry in the world, and I think it is better to ... study in Taiwan than in the US,” Czech student Josef Nagy said during the program’s closing ceremony on Friday last week.
Photo: CNA
The biggest draws were Taiwan’s advanced technology and its focus on research and development, he said.
“We learned how to calculate, measure and simulate the parameters of the components, and how to design the circuit. I think it confirmed my belief that it is what I want to do for living, like analog IC design,” Nagy said.
Another participant, Emanuele Platania from Italy, said his curiosity about how Taiwan was able to develop a strong semiconductor industry and interest in companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co that led him to apply for the summer training program.
After completing the program, Platania said he wrote to professors at National Taiwan University, expressing his desire to pursue a doctorate in IC design in Taiwan.
Romanian student Alexandru Kiraly praised the program and said it would help him in his field of research.
“I actually do not have a background in electronics. I study computer science, and I was really surprised by how well the course was organized,” he said.
“I learned so much from this that I can transplant it back into my field of research,” Kiraly said about cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
After the training program, some participants are to intern in semiconductor centers or companies such as Synopsys International Ltd and Chroma ATE Inc in Taiwan, the TSRI said.
At the program’s closing ceremony, students received certificates as proof of their training.
The program included lectures, practical projects and corporate internship opportunities for students, TSRI director-general Hou Tuo-hung (侯拓宏) said at the event.
It invited 79 students from 10 European countries to learn about Taiwan’s most advanced semiconductor technology, deepening bilateral partnerships between the countries, with the support of the National Science and Technology Council’s Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Taiwan-Europe program, Hou said.
Countries such as the Czech Republic, Italy, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus, Bulgaria and Spain participated in the program.
The Czech Representative to Taiwan David Steinke was also in attendance.
Taiwan has achieved an incredible global position after 40 years of hard work, Steinke said.
“I’m very, very happy to be here today to see that Taiwan is willing to share some of its knowledge and some of its expertise with its foreign partners,” he said.
Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office representative Marco Lombardi also attended the ceremony.
“Italy is paying a lot of attention [to semiconductors] and is very happy that there are a number of my fellow nationals here representing Italy and improving their knowledge,” Lombardi said.
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