January 28, 2026
Participants in the 2026 CalIT2 semiconductor winter training program give their best UCI Anteater zots.
The CalIT2 semiconductor winter training program wrapped up at the end of January. Organized by Professor G.P. Li, the training program introduces students to the semiconductor ecosystem and connects it to modern semiconductor-enabled systems, including IoT and edge AI applications.
This year, 35 students and 5 faculty from Korea University of Technology and Education (KoreaTech) and Hannam University attended the program, which included UCI faculty-led interactive lectures and discussions, and tours of CalIT2 labs and the INRF cleanrooms.
Professor G.P. Li engages the visiting students in an interactive presentation and discussion.
“It’s an intensive, hands-on program connecting semiconductor fundamentals to real systems; from devices and manufacturing to sensing, computing, communication, and application-driven design,” Li explained.
By the end of the two-week program, the undergraduates came away with knowledge in the:
- Semiconductor landscape: supply chain, fabs, packaging, and ecosystem trends
- Materials & equipment: emerging processes and tools (with cleanroom exposure)
- Modern SoCs: CPU + memory + peripherals + radios + security + (sometimes) AI accelerators
- AI semiconductors: specialization for edge/cloud and the efficiency story
- Design tradeoffs: latency vs energy, performance vs area, flexibility vs specialization
Attendees also made two industry excursions. This year’s program included one day at Navitas Semiconductor in Torrance, and another day at Tower Semiconductor in Newport Beach.
Program attendees tour the Visualization lab in the CalIT2 building.
A farewell lunch and graduation ceremony was held on the last day of the training program with each participant receiving a certificate of completion.
-Shelly Nazarenus
