On April 5, 2022, the IEEE Brac University Student Branch organized a seminar titled “Career Prospects in the VLSI Industry with ULKASEMI” in collaboration with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Brac University. The seminar focused on VLSI market trends and future possibilities, as well as technical specifics. As this was an in-person seminar, the audience presence was substantial, and a total of thirty-six individuals were present.

The semiconductor industry has recently seen a significant increase in component upscaling, which is expected to continue. IC designers can develop with a smaller footprint with VLSI. Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) refers to the creation of an integrated circuit with millions of MOS transistors on a single chip. Electronic circuits commonly include a CPU, volatile memory such as RAM, storage elements such as ROM, and other peripherals on a single PCB board. However, chip designers can combine all of these functionalities into a single chip using very large-scale integration technologies. Over the last few decades, we’ve witnessed indications of rapid expansion in the semiconductor industry. From SSI to MSI to LSI and now VLSI, the quest for compactness, lower power consumption, and improved functionality has skyrocketed. VLSI’s advantages include more adaptability, miniaturization, and overall enhanced efficiency. VLSI technology is perfectly suited to the challenges of today’s electronic gadgets and systems. As the quest for compactness, mobility, speed, and dependability grows, VLSI technology will continue to drive electronics innovation.

The presentation went into great detail about these possibilities. The recognized speakers at this conference discussed topics such as global semiconductor growth, ULKASEMI’s expansion and contribution to the Bangladesh VLSI landscape, and more. A quick discussion of VLSI, as well as VLSI industry career guidelines the skillsets needed to break into the fast-growing VLSI industry, as well as much more.

Anwarul Hasan, Senior Vice President of the Engineering Team, and Ulkasemi’s HR Team were the first to speak. He spoke about the global semiconductor industry’s growth as well as Ulkasemi’s growth and contribution. He emphasized how the global semiconductor market regulates other consumer items such as automobiles. The global chip shortage caused a lack of autos and other consumer products during COVID-19. The marketplace for computer processors (including graphics processing units and central processing units) was also severely hampered. Second, Dr. Touhidur Rahman, Vice President of the Silicon Engineering Team at Ulkasemi, discussed how setbacks in life can drive our future. He also mentioned how Ulkasemi can assist us in the pursuit of a VLSI career. Last but not least, Md. Muzammel Hossain, Assistant Manager, Ulkasemi’s Business Development Team. At the completion of the session, three former Brac University students recounted their experiences with Ulkasemi in a group discussion. Some of the audience questions were also briefly answered in this seminar. A few of the important takeaways were that they needed a thorough understanding of data structures, object-oriented programming, Verilog/VHDL, and C++ to get into the programming side of VLSI. Cadence software is required for the hardware and design aspects of VLSI. All three of them also stated that knowing everything about these technical issues is not required, but the incentive should be to keep moving onward with the ever-changing needs of VLSI design. It is also vital to maintain a learning mentality so that individuals are not intimidated by emerging technologies.

The seminar came to a close with a thank-you address from the presenter. He expressed his gratitude to the visitors for coming and sharing some industrial information with the students. Abdulla Hil Kafi and Raihana Shams Islam Antara, both Research Associates at the Laboratory of Space System Engineering and Technology (LaSSET), Md. Mahmudul Islam, Lecturer, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, was present to exchange pleasantries, bringing an end to an event that had been quite lively. There were more than 55 participants from both the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Brac University at the event.