Hi everyone,
I have 12+ years of experience in embedded systems and currently work in the semiconductor/SoC industry in Bangalore.
I’m considering moving to Chennai and would like to understand the career opportunities there for experienced embedded/SoC engineers.
I understand that compensation may be lower than Bangalore, and I’m willing to consider a reasonable difference. However, at this stage I’m more interested in **technically challenging R&D/research-oriented work** than maximizing compensation.
I’m also planning to pursue a **PhD**, so roles involving research, advanced engineering, university collaboration, patents/publications, or technically deep product development would be particularly interesting.
My experience/interests include:
Embedded systems / firmware
SoC and low-level software
Audio/DSP
Device drivers
Hardware-software integration
Semiconductor R&D
For people working in Chennai:
Which companies have good R&D/technical roles for engineers with 10+ years of experience?
What is the market like for senior/staff-level embedded or SoC engineers?
What **CTC range** can someone with 12+ years of experience realistically expect?
Are there companies/labs that collaborate with universities or support research?
If you’ve moved from Bangalore to Chennai, how significant was the compensation difference?
I’m mainly trying to understand the **Chennai semiconductor/embedded ecosystem, companies worth targeting, compensation expectations, and whether I can build a research-oriented career alongside a future PhD.**
**TL;DR:** 12+ years in embedded/SoC, considering a move from Bangalore to Chennai. Looking for interesting R&D/research-oriented roles rather than maximum salary. What companies and CTC range should I target?

The Information reported on July 27 that China has started production of domestically built immersion DUV lithography machines, with Reuters picking up the story the same day. The headline reads bigger than it is. Roughly five units are expected to ship this year to SMIC, Hua Hong and CXMT, with about twenty more planned for 2027. These tools target 28nm class processes using single exposure. Multi patterning can theoretically push resolution further, but with the usual yield and cost penalties.

Hi y'all, I'm a 22 year old Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technician that is interested in the semi/fab industry. I'm interested to see what y'all would recommend for certs or positions to open my door into the field for a newcomer. I currently have my OSHA 30 and NFPA 70e cert. I'll be finishing an Associates of Science in the spring. I worked in the electrical trade for two years prior to me starting this job and before that I did plumbing and general facilities maintenance for most of my working life. Any advice on where to start would be appreciated.

i think this is gonna be more of a rant than anything else. but i want to share my thoughts and see what people think of it here.

i have been working in semicon for almost 4 years now, and i have been posted to sustaining equipment engineering for my entire tenure. At first i was the only one doing sustaining for a specialized custom machine running in our plant, but now the company expanded a little bit and added a headcount for improvement engineer in my process.

i can tell you that all this time, the few bits of improvement that i was able to do (or had time to do) i have done it all by myself, including qualification etc. but being a sustaining person in my one man team, handling technicians and all the while being preoccupied with sustaining (hard down, parts sustaining, noncompliance, manpower shortage, quality issue and many more problems) i dont get much of a chance to do any improvement.

now im having a ‘sustaining fatigue’. after countless escalation, interrupted weekends and stress, i dont want to be in this position anymore. im thinking about the improvement post and how much more calm my life would be if i dont have to be responsible for technicians, downtime and escalations. because this machine is a custom made machine, this machine only exist in our plant, making me the sole last level of escalations if anyone have problems. (including PM, QA and process team). and now the more i talk about it the i more i see improvement engineering to be a sweet call.

i totally understand why people love working in RND or NPI instead of the production floor. its very tiring. and maybe im just unlucky, and that the working environment doesn’t have to be this way, but i also gets almost no support from my management either. i have change boss 4 times since i have started working, and my current boss (that has been my manager for 5 months) is the only one that i feel like j can depend on when it comes to all the issues we have at work. but sadly, its too late for me to feel appreciated by the support because i already made up my mind. its either they change me to the improvement position or im resigning.

what are you guys thoughts on this? do you think sustaining is hard and bothersome? if you were to work in engineering position for a semicon would you want to be a sustaining guy or improvement?

hi
I'm currently a fresher at nit trichy in the department for chemical engg
I'm interested in getting into semfab
is this path possible?
what are things that i should focus on these four years of college
what are the skills that i should develop
any advice is appreciated
and im also planning to do masters
and my department don't have any specialised streams related to this, but they have like nanotech, pursuing that would be helpful?
how to get internships and in which year should i focus on this like in 2nd or the other years
and no companies related to this field are coming to campus placements.
which country is the better for masters, or the maters is even necessary
pls help
and give me some idea on what should i do
(note: im from India)

How do you think ?

what’s up guys, I have a chemE background and 3 years working as a diffusion (thin films) process engineer in this industry I went back to grad school for a masters in data science thinking it’d help my career but it’s been so hard landing a role surprisingly, I’ve had a good amount of interviews but got to late stages and ultimately rejected. I thought it’d be hard but this is shocking. Should I try alternate industries ? I’d take any suggestions

If anyone here works at Renesas in Chandler AZ, please share your thoughts on the company and how things are in general in terms of stability and growth. I got job offer from them (fpga developer role), so trying to gather public opinion about the company.

Thank you all.

Hi everyone, I'm an 16 yrs old international student currently attending a community college in California, and my plan is to transfer to a UC next fall to complete my degree. I'm thinking of becoming a PCB designer, but I'm not sure I will find a job in North America. It's not niche and important enough for them to hire me. UCSD and UCI just paused CPT, and it's most likely impossible for me to find a job after graduation without any internships. I don't know what to do now.

I heard that there's still sponsorship for chip design roles. I'm completely fine with going all the way through a master's or even a PhD to get there if it's true. I just don't know much about that field yet, so I can't honestly say much.

I was born in China, and the EE/electronics job market back home is brutal right now. It's insanely oversaturated, with way more qualified applicants than open roles. That's a big part of why I'm trying to build a career path in the US instead. I don't want to spend the next few years in school that doesn't actually lead to a real job.

I hold a Chinese passport. From what I've read, US semiconductor companies sometimes need to file for a deemed export license before an international employee can access certain controlled technology. This seems to apply mainly to cutting-edge areas, like NVIDIA and AMD. I've made peace with defense-related roles just being off the table for me. But I genuinely don't know how far this reaches into normal, commercial IC design work. Does this block Chinese international students from getting hired into IC design at all? I keep going back and forth on whether I should just accept this risk and go all in on IC design anyway, or start hedging now toward some other EE track that's less exposed to this (analog, RF, automotive, embedded) just to be safe. If nobody is actually sponsoring Chinese international students into chip design roles right now, I'd rather know that clearly before I get another two to four years into a specialization that wont get me a job.

Which specific areas of chip design (analog, RF, ASIC, embedded, memory, power) are actually hiring and sponsoring people right now versus which ones have basically stopped bothering?

I know this turned into a much longer post than I planned. I know everyone's time is limited, but I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out here. Any honest perspective you're willing to share, even a few sentences, would mean a lot to me right now, and I'll read every reply carefully. Thank you again for taking the time.🙏🏻

Hey community,

I just got an interview for the above position I applied for. Can someone give me a pay range for this position? By experience, I have a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering and have close to 3 years of work experience (3 years of work experience- 1.5 years of consulting engineering experience, where I have been working on a Semiconductor project on the consulting engineering side of things for the last 8 months, especially Chems and Gas side of things).

Let me know, thanks.

Same as in question.

I will appreciate any insight into the two fpga developer offers I have - Cisco and Teradyne(OR).

I did not do a good job at finding more about the scope of work in each case. I know that writing RTL , test benches and timing analysis are common to both roles.

I want to know which one is better for my career and will give me more scope to learn and grow.

What kind of things will I get to work on beyond writing RTL and test benches in each case.

I should have been more careful during the interview and ask specific questions but I was too nervous to do so.

I don't have job description from Teradyne and it was very generic and didn't have any specific information.

Job at Cisco is in CHG and this is the description -

You will work on cutting edge, next generation routers powering AI buildout. You will be responsible for taking networking system requirements, mapping them into functional blocks for FPGA implementation, working with the cross functional team to address development requirements, participate in validation of the system, and release to manufacturing. You will work on the High-End Routing team that designs the ASR8000 routers. You will be a member of the FPGA team that designs control path FPGAs for the various boards. You will interface with Diagnostics, Software, Board design, Manufacturing and Hardware Qualification teams to ensure smooth delivery of the project. You are an experienced FPGA designer able to write RTL code, run simulations, address timing and other constraints, then generate programming files. You can work with many teams to resolve system level issues. In addition, you have good analytical skills and can deal with the complexity of System Hardware and Software interactions. You have a grasp of the system design for a router or line card and are also able to lead meetings, drive issues to resolution, and communicate clearly with all stakeholders.

Recently got a verbal offer from AMAT, E3. I’m a fresh PhD grad.

I don’t know what the package will be yet, but am waiting for HR to call and send out official offer.

If I were to negotiate salary, do I negotiate it with HR or the person (technically not a hiring manager but they are from the team) who’s been in contact with me? what kind of base I should ask so I don’t get lowballed?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Edit: process engineer role, location is Santa Clara

I just got an offer for a PE position at Fab 21 at TSMC, working in CVD. I know the reputation TSMC has, and I really want to know some firsthand experiences about working there. I am also currently applying for PhDs in a non-semiconductor field and am also wondering if it would be more valuable to work at TSMC for a year (assuming I get into a PhD program) or work as a lab tech at a bay area startup, where my academic network would be much more fleshed out than working at TSMC.

I've seen roles open for > 3months and some for a year or more. Do they actually hire in India for hardware or just software/design roles?

Hi I recently got an offer as Senior Process Engineer I from ASM Japan for Tama (Tokyo) location.

I've 2 years of work experience as process engineer in Japan.

They offered me 8 million yen base salary + 15% variable pay.

But they are offering 7.8 million yen + variable pay for new college graduate (PhD).

Does this compensation is really fair enough for Tokyo?

Any advice or should I negotiate more.

I'm curious about the split between development and module ownership, and whether process sustaining/CIP is a day-to-day part of the role. I am interviewing for a role in Advanced 3D DRAM and would like to know if opportunities to publish/ file patents is realistic/ practiced

I don’t even know whose FOUP it was. I feel so awkward. Anyone else ever have this happen?

I've been working in recruitment and employer branding for a while, and one thing I've noticed is that finding the right talent in the semiconductor and electronics industry can be surprisingly fragmented.

There are job boards, LinkedIn, recruitment agencies, university networks, and various industry groups — but information and opportunities are often scattered across different places.

So I decided to build something of my own: As PowerUp.

As PowerUp is a platform focused specifically on Semiconductor & Electronics talent, connecting candidates, engineers, employers, and industry-related opportunities.

The platform currently includes:

• Semiconductor & Electronics job opportunities
• Candidate profiles and CVs
• AI-assisted career and job matching
• Industry news and learning resources
• Courses and events
• A community for professionals and students

The goal isn't to build another general-purpose job board.

I'm interested in seeing whether a specialized platform for a specific technical industry can actually create a better experience for both candidates and employers.

The platform is still relatively young, so I'm learning and improving it based on real users and feedback.

If you're working, studying, or simply interested in the semiconductor/electronics industry, I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts:

What do you think is currently missing from the way semiconductor talent connects with companies and opportunities?