Salehi leads inaugural AI-hardware design competition
The competition's winning team, AI or Die, accepts a $5,000 check from Nvidia.
Engineering students from five different nations converged at the University of Arizona to participate in the first-ever Artificial Intelligence Hardware Design League (AI-HDL) competition. The inaugural competition wrapped up with the best overall design winner, the U of A team AI or Die, walking away with $5,000 and lasting industry connections.
SIE assistant professor Soheil Salehi founded AI-HDL and said that workforce development is key given that Arizona is attracting chip manufacturers.
“There are so many job opportunities, but few candidates who would pursue those positions," Salehi said. “The goal is to bring in students who think entry into this area has a high barrier and show them it doesn’t."
Teams ranged from three to five members and were evaluated on design security, energy usage, and area efficiency, and ranked within two academic levels: community college and undergraduate students, and graduate students.
“We are developing the next generation of talent in semiconductor design,” said Salehi, who plans to grow the competition over the next two years, including adding high school students to the mix.