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The Semiconductor and Electronics industry continues to be in the spotlight, with the world continuing to see a surge in chip demand as well as investments across the globe, including Singapore. With the continual expansion of our industry, the need to grow and develop our talent pool is more critical today than ever before. We need more talents to join our industry, not only to address current needs, but also for a sustainable future.

The IC Design Committee was initiated in 2021 with the objective to drive and sustain talent attraction and development initiatives for Integrated Circuit Design sector in Singapore. Product IC Design is the heart of all electronic devices, and it enables the whole Semiconductor manufacturing and service support ecosystem. The IC Design Committee is led and participated by 10 Semiconductor and Electronics industry companies and 3 Institute of Higher Learnings, with the support of Economics Development Board (EDB) and Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA).

Summer Camp — IC Design Your Future is proudly brought to you by the IC Design Committee. It is a 3-Day program held on 19–20 July 2023 (on-site at AMD, Silicon Labs, and GlobalFoundries Campus), which gives university undergraduates who may be interested to join the IC Design sector in the near future an opportunity to learn more about Semiconductor and Electronics industry, IC Design career prospects, visits to leading multi-national companies like AMD, Silicon Labs, and GlobalFoundries; and most importantly, providing the opportunities to interact with various Semiconductor companies’ industry leaders and members to experience the vibrancy, focus and passion of this industry.

Summer Camp 2022

For more information about the IC Design Summer Camp 2022, click here.

IC Design Committee

Mr Edmund Mok — Supporting Partner

Assistant Vice President, Semiconductors, Singapore Economic Development Board

Edmund is an Assistant Vice President for the Semiconductors division of the Singapore Economic Development Board. He works with the world’s leading semiconductor companies to invest in Singapore and grow their functions and activities here. Beyond semiconductors, Edmund also has a passion of organisation development and is a change management practitioner and facilitator.

About EDB — The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) is the lead government agency that plans and executes industrial development strategies for Singapore. Our mission is to create sustainable economic growth, with vibrant business and good job opportunities for Singapore.

Mr Eu Gene Goh — Committee Co-Chair

Senior Director, Design Engineering, AMD

Goh Eu Gene is Senior Director at AMD Singapore where he leads a team with broad design capabilities including digital, analog design and verification, physical implementation, custom layout and post silicon validation. Eu Gene started his career in 1995 working on digital design for ASICs, transitioning to management in 2007. He is part of AMD Singapore’s leadership council and has been actively involved with engineering career outreach since 2016, including SSIA’s Tech 88.

AMD offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of leadership high-performance and adaptive processor technologies, combining CPUs, GPUs FPGAs Adaptive SoC and deep software expertise to enable leadership computing platforms for cloud edge and end devices. Founded in 1969, AMD is setting the standard for modern computing through major technological achievements and important industry firsts.

“I joined the IC design committee to help raise the profile of IC design in Singapore. I feel the impact of chip design on technological advancement has been under represented. In fact, chip design has become one of the key differentiators at major tech companies. We’re in a renaissance for the semiconductor industry, which makes it the perfect time to capitalise on the high level of awareness and interest, to build an even stronger pipeline of IC design talents to accelerate growth in this sector.”

Prof Yeo Kiat Seng — Committee Co-Chair

Associate Provost, Research and International Relations, SUTD

Professor Yeo Kiat Seng is an Associate Provost at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He is a widely known authority in low-power RF/mm-wave IC design. Fellows of the Singapore Academy of Engineering, Singapore National Academy of Science and IEEE, Professor Yeo was also recognised among the top 2% scientists worldwide by Stanford University in 2020.

SUTD is one of the first universities in the world to incorporate the art and science of design and technology into a truly holistic interdisciplinary education and research experience that culminates in real-world design innovations. It seeks to advance knowledge and nurture technically grounded leaders and innovators to serve societal needs.

In the new global economy, the acquisition of new skills to take on challenging and changing jobs or entirely new jobs is key to maintaining employability and achieving success. So, change is necessary for Singapore to produce the best because good enough will never change the world.

“I joined the IC Design Committee with the hope to transform the semiconductor / IC design industry. We also need a fresh approach to excite the young to do STEM so that they can make impactful contribution in the future.”

Ms Gn Fang Hong — Committee Member

Senior Director of Design Platforms, GlobalFoundries

Gn Fang Hong is Senior Director of Ecosystem and Design Solutions in GlobalFoundries (GF) responsible for 3rd Party IP development and Quality with more than 30 years of semiconductor foundry experience. She has since held various global leadership positions in Technology Development, Technology Transfer, Fabs Startup, Manufacturing Operations Strategy, Supplier/Partner Management and Design Enablement. She has published more than 20 technical papers and holds 10 US patents. Fang Hong holds a BSc degree in Physics from NUS and MSc degree in Microelectronics Materials and Device Technology from UMIST, UK. She worked in ST Microelectronics prior to joining Chartered / GF.

GF is one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers with a truly global footprint. GF is redefining innovation and semiconductor manufacturing by developing feature-rich process technology solutions that provide leadership performance in pervasive high growth markets. As a steadfast partner, with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services, GF works collaboratively alongside our customers to bring a broad range of innovative products to market.

“I joined the IC Design Committee to raise awareness of IC design and design enablement as part of Singapore’s semiconductor ecosystem to attract talents and expand the pipeline. I hope to encourage women to join a traditionally male-dominated industry and persevere through unique yet rewarding challenges.

“With a consistent pipeline of talents from future generations, Singapore can continue to attract world-class semiconductor companies to set-up or expand operations here. Having a world-class support infrastructure helps to incubate and accelerate technology ideas into new businesses to become the Silicon Valley of Asia.”

Mr Jerome Tjia — Committee Member

Vice President and Head of Development Centre Asia Pacific, Infineon Technologies

Mr. Jerome Tjia heads the Development Centre at Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific and is responsible for leading the development of new products in automotive microcontrollers and power conversion ICs. He was a board member of Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association from 2009 to 2022 and is a member of Departmental Consultative Committee of National University of Singapore.

Infineon is a world leader in semiconductor solutions that make life easier, safer and greener. The regional Asia Pacific headquarters is strategically located in Singapore, where Infineon can leverage local talents, our vibrant ecosystem, and global connectivity to further innovation, automation, and digitalisation. By 2023, Infineon Singapore will transform into a global AI innovation hub, contributing to Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative.

“I started in IC design more than 30 years ago, and I still find it to be as exciting as ever. The semiconductor industry continues to progress and evolve, and there are constantly new challenges to tackle. It’s my lifelong passion that I can never get tired of, and I’m here to share my experiences and hopefully inspire the next generation of IC designers.

“The USA has Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and I believe that our local talents can put Singapore on the map as a recognised leader in semiconductor design and technology. We are already known as a regional financial hub, and our semiconductor industry has the potential to grow to the same scale as our banking industry.”

Mr Tan Yoke Siang — Committee Member

Director of Automotive Digital Design, Marvell Semiconductor

Tan Yoke Siang is Director of Automotive Digital Design at Marvell Semiconductor. He has deep technical background in semiconductor/ASIC design engineering, combined with 10+ years as a Design Verification Manager and Director, managing global teams in Singapore, Shanghai and Santa Clara. He is a recognized leader in Advanced Design Verification, helping to build products with the highest quality as required by Ethernet Networking and Automotive in-Vehicle Networking customers, with direct contribution to ~25 successful mass production chips.

At Marvell, we believe that infrastructure powers progress. Trusted by the world’s leading technology companies for 25 years, we move, store, process and secure the world’s data with semiconductor solutions designed for our customers’ current needs and future ambitions. Through a process of deep collaboration and transparency, we’re ultimately changing the way tomorrow’s enterprise, cloud, automotive, and carrier architectures transform — for the better.

“I joined the IC design committee to help increase the profile of IC design related jobs in Singapore. I hope to improve the image of IC design in Singapore to the level where IC design job would be seen as being an equally “prestigious” and “rewarding career choice” as in Silicon Valley. I hope we can attract more talents to join IC design sector, helping to build a stronger workforce to grow this industry in Singapore.”

Mr Mario Traeber — Committee Member

VP of Engineering, Maxlinear

Mario Traeber is VP of Engineering at Maxlinear Asia Singapore Private Limited. He is heading the Singapore Design Centre of Maxlinear that acquired the Connected Home Division from Intel in 2020 which has its roots by the broadband group of Lantiq and Infineon Technologies. Maxlinear runs an engineering workforce that covers the entire end-to-end design cycle from marketing requirements all the way to mass production. Engineering disciplines include System Architecture and Algorithm design, full-scale VLSI IC design, System Engineering, Test & Product Engineering, Software & Firmware design, as well as Rapid Prototyping. The focus of the group is on leadership semiconductor IC products for Broadband and WLAN routers and gateways, Ethernet Physical Layers and Switches, Broadband Physical Layer products, WLAN access points, and high-end server class data-compression accelerators.

Mario joined the IC Design Committee of SSIA representing one of the sizeable engineering teams here in Singapore to help contribute to the growth of the local ecosystem. Most of the challenges of the industry can be addressed more efficiently out of the SSIA framework rather than isolated efforts of the participating companies. In that effort, I am proud to see the tight collaboration of the participating members that include government agencies and all major universities.

“We hope to be able to make a positive influence onto the local talent pool — especially the young talent — which we all consider vital for the ecosystem to be able to scale further and be a platform for engineers to grow better careers and the industry to build up on it — here in Singapore.”

Mr Wong Sheng Jau — Committee Member

Senior Manager of General Manager Office (SLGMO) Mediatek Singapore

Sheng Jau is Senior Manager of General Manager Office (SLGMO), MediaTek Singapore. He is responsible for liaising with Institutes of Higher Learning, trade organisations, industry partners on research collaborations and exploring regional business opportunities in areas of smart technologies. Before joining SLGMO, he was a senior technical manager of MediaTek Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) department and has been working in various wireless communication products. Sheng Jau graduated from Nanyang Technological University School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and received his Master of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) from National University of Singapore.

MediaTek is a market leader in developing innovative systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile device, home entertainment, connectivity and IoT products. Our dedication to innovation has positioned us as a driving market force in highly power-efficient mobile technologies, automotive solutions and a broad range of advanced multimedia products.

“I want to help raising awareness about our profession. IC design is a highly specialised and technically challenging work, but it is always thrilled to see my hard work being displayed as final product in stores. Chip design is the most important segments in semiconductor value chain and a rewarding career. Singapore has a great potential to be the IC design hub after building a good foundation for semiconductor manufacturing.”

A/Prof Zheng Yuanjin — Committee Member

EEE, Director VIRTUS IC Design Center of Excellence, NTU

I am Prof. Yuanjin Zheng and major in Integrated Circuit design. I have worked at A*STAR, Institute of Microelectronics on 2002-2009, and then at NTU from 2009 to present.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various international metrics. NTU is consistently ranked within the top 80 universities in the world according to most rankings, and including the top 20 in the QS World University Rankings. It has also been ranked 1st globally amongst young universities by the QS World University Rankings since 2015. At School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, there is a major on IC design and microelectronics for students to pursue.

I would participate in training IC design talents for Singapore semiconductor industries, and also develop strategic direction of semiconductor echo system with industry partners.

Due to rapid change of world environment, now it could be a great chance for Singapore to boom the semiconductor industry; while I believe it is somewhat top priority task to solve the manpower issue in long terms. Glad to see SSIA IC design group which works with EDB to actively develop Summer Camp program to promote the young generation to choose the IC design career. At Universities, we are prudently reviewing the course setup and developing enhanced curriculum, also training students with skilled projects. Wish the semiconductor industry keeps thriving and growing in Singapore.

Mr Matthew Chia How Ling — Committee Member

General Manager, Solution and Design Center, Nuvoton

Matthew Ling started his career as an analog IC design engineer after graduating with a EEE degree in 2000. He developed voltage regulators, audio amplifiers, DCDCs, etc for car audio, office automation, industrial applications. He now manages IC design team designing battery management IC for industrial and high speed interface IPs (e.g. HDMI2.0, USB3.0); and software development team developing embedded solutions for inverter control, HDMI solutions, HMI solutions, Edge AI and image sensor including TOF solutions.

Nuvoton Technology Corporation (NTC) was spun-off as a Winbond Electronics affiliate in July 2008. NTC focuses on the developments of microcontroller, microprocessor, smart home and cloud security IC and has strong market share in Industrial, Consumer and Computer markets. On 1st September 2020, Nuvoton Technology Singapore Pte Ltd (NTSG) was established in Singapore. NTSG aims to expand NTC group businesses in Battery Application, Spatial Sensing, Edge AI and Asian Outsource Assembly & Test commissioned control.

NTSG joined IC design committee to collaborate with SSIA, IHLs and other tech companies to come up with actions that inspire, motivate generations of young people in Singapore to understand the needs and impact of semiconductor and IC design on our lives; thereby to spark the interests in them to join this industry and continue to innovate and develop for generations to come.

“We would like to see that Singapore develop human capital with deep core competencies in semiconductor design and development to meet the ever changing advancements of future digital, electrification, automation demands.”

Mr Shieh Ping Lung — Committee Member

Senior Director, Realtek

Ping Lung has been with Realtek Singapore since 2015 and is responsible for Singapore R&D operation. Passionate for electronics, he started his IC design career in 1990 immediately after graduation.

Realtek Singapore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Realtek Semiconductor Corporation, a world-renowned fabless IC design company providing connectivity solutions in Communications Network, Computer Peripheral and Multimedia. Established in 2013, Realtek Singapore focuses on developing ICs for IoT applications and wireless communication. Today, Realtek is well received for its innovative work in IoT solutions, for which Realtek Singapore plays a pivotal role in product development.

Semiconductors are the brains of modern electronics, enabling technologies critical to world economic growth. Semiconductors are all around us, yet most people are unaware of the importance of semiconductors. By joining IC Design Committee, Ping Lung hopes to improve public awareness of Semiconductor industry and to attract young talents to join the industry.

Singapore Semiconductor industry accounts for 11% of the global semiconductor market and continues to be the fastest growing segment of the electronics industry. With strong government support and investments from leading global semiconductor companies, Ping Lung believes that Singapore will become a global innovation and talent hub for IC design and advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Mr Shantonu Bhadury — Committee Member

Director, Design Engineering IoT Products, Silicon Labs

Shantonu Bhadury is the Design Engineering Director at Silicon Labs. He has been contributing to and driving the IC design development at STMicroelectronics and Silicon Labs for more than 20 years. He graduated from NTU with Bachelor of Engineering and completed Master of Science at NUS.

Silicon Labs is a pure-play leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology for a more connected world. Its integrated hardware and software platform, intuitive development tools, unmatched ecosystem and robust support make Silicon Labs the ideal long-term partner in building advanced industrial, commercial, home and life applications.

Singapore has been witnessing dwindling pool of fresh talent in IC Design due to lack of concerted effort by industry and government. The IC Design committee is first of its kind where competing companies have come together for a common purpose to generate some spark to re-activate a vibrant IC Design ecosystem. The hope is to find ways to attract local talent to join this specialisation and to create policies and programs to groom the next generation IC Design engineers.

“We are witnessing a tremendous growth and demand of smart devices capable of transforming various aspects of our lives. IC Design is in the crux of all the “things” that are needed to support this spurt. We hope that Singapore will lead this region in innovating new technologies and designing ICs to address new untapped markets that will define and create the sustainable future that we all wish for.”

Mr Kien Beng Tan — Committee Member

Senior Design Director, STMicroelectronics

Tan Kien Beng is a Senior Design Director at STMicroelectronics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. He and his team, composing of the mixed signal IC Design know-how (analog, digital, firmware, and layout), have the proven ability to develop innovative consumer products with over 1 billion units sold.

At ST, we are 48,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An integrated device manufacturer, we work with more than 200,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of the Internet of Things and connectivity. ST is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2027. Further information can be found at www.st.com.

Kien Beng joined IC Design Committee because he believes that IC is a main factor that enriches people’s lives and solves many issues we face today and tomorrow. IC Design is a must have for Singapore, and the world.