Career entry Hands on Chips

Steven Roch is brimming with ideas. “I'm imagining that the design phase will last six months. Ideally, we would meet once or, better yet, twice a week. We still need a room – not a laboratory or anything like that, just something simple. Though it would be nice if we had something like a club room.” A home for the new VDE Chipdesign Club München. This unique project was conceived by Steven Roch, a master’s student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and, until recently, chair of the VDE student chapter at Munich University of Applied Sciences. It all began at the VDE Bavaria future forum on semiconductors in May 2025. “That was when I realized just how significant the skills shortage in chip design really is,” says Steven Roch. He then started thinking about what could be done to help address the problem. His idea: introduce students of electrical and information engineering to chip design at an early stage through hands-on experience. “So far, I am not aware of any opportunity at universities where students can design their own chip and have it manufactured. For student groups, this is something completely new.” For Roch, the second step is particularly important. “We want to make sure that the designers can actually hold their finished silicon chips in their hands.” After all, only large fabrication plants can manufacture chips – and that is expensive. The Chipdesign Club München aims to make this possible with the help of the Tiny Tapeout platform. “We use the platform and its tools to have our chips manufactured in a simple and cost-effective way,” says Steven Roch.

Before that comes the development phase. “Whether it is a digital or analog chip, an audio amplifier, or a small processor – each group decides for itself what it wants to design.” The teams will be supported by team leads who already have some experience, as well as knowledgeable mentors. “These could be professors or professionals from industry.” Steven Roch has firmly planned for support from companies in the semiconductor industry. After all, these companies could benefit particularly from the Chipdesign Club. “I also see the club as a talent pool,” says Roch. “Companies can get to know their future talent here – people who, through this hands-on training, are already prepared for a career as chip designers and are, for example, already familiar with the relevant software and tools.” This could ideally make the trainee period for graduates in companies easier or even shorten it.

But there is still much to be done before that point is reached. “So far, we have received a great deal of interest from both students and companies, but only a limited number of firm commitments.” With the support of the VDE, Steven Roch is working on the club’s branding and trying to secure a domain name and server space. The goal is to have the funding and infrastructure in place by autumn so that the project can finally get underway.