KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Malaysia and Brazil have partnered to develop integrated circuit (IC) design talent through the launch of ChampionCHIP eXperience, Malaysia Edition, on Thursday.
The launch, held in conjunction with Semicon Southeast Asia, underscores Malaysia’s commitment to building deep, specialised talent pipelines for the IC design sector, according to a joint statement by the Advanced Semiconductor Academy Malaysia (ASEM), the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec), and the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park.
“The collaboration with Brazil exemplifies this vision, bringing together the expertise of ChipInventor, a leading Brazilian cloud-based IC design education platform, with Selangor’s established semiconductor ecosystem.
“Malaysia’s unique position as a neutral partner in a fragmenting global semiconductor supply chain places Selangor at a strategic crossroads – one that demands rapid capability-building beyond physical infrastructure,” the statement read.
The event was officiated by Selangor Executive Councillor for Investment, Trade and Mobility Ng Sze Han and Brazilian Ambassador to Malaysia Daniella Ortega Menezes.
The ChampionCHIP eXperience is an accelerated, high-energy IC design competition designed to identify and develop the next generation of Malaysian semiconductor talent.
Powered by ChipInventor’s 100 per cent cloud-based EDA (Electronic Design Automation) platform, the programme offers participants an intensive, end-to-end learning journey.
A total of 300 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students – from diploma to postgraduate level – selected from institutions across Malaysia will undergo an intensive journey from digital logic fundamentals to hands-on RTL (Register-Transfer Level) design, culminating in hardware-level validation using high-performance AWS FPGAs technologies.
They will experience ChipInventor’s cloud-based EDA environment, which enables accessible and scalable IC design education without the barrier of costly local infrastructure. The programme allows participants not only to simulate designs but also to validate them on real hardware, ensuring they graduate industry-ready and capable of leading the industry.
The programme will culminate at the Selangor AI & Semiconductor Summit 2026 (AiSEM@Selangor) in October 2026.
“The initiative directly supports Malaysia’s National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) target to develop 60,000 semiconductor talents, with a dedicated focus on IC Design - the highest value-add segment of the semiconductor ecosystem,” it added. — Bernama
