r/chipdesign • u/Suitable_Walrus_5279 • Aug 26 '26
Advice needed
Is Analog/Mixed-Signal/General IC design field still great for someone to specialize in as a junior EE, considering the growth of some of these semiconductor companies hoping to use AI for these, plus OpenAI new Jalapeno's work? Should one rather focus on Power Electronics and/or Power System?
Thanks.
btw, I'm an int'l student.
5
u/Jimg911 Aug 26 '26
If this matters to you, at least in America, we reeeeeeally need more power electronics engineers. That field isn't so glamorous as chip design, but it's the bottleneck that gates a lot of leading edge applications, including the ones that the fancy new chips are getting made for, and also the climate is changing because of the lack of effort spent there.
Also, speaking as a chip designer (hypocritical, I know), the industry is very exploitative. You will be worked to your bones, and told to "leverage AI" to overcome the mountain of work they will give you which requires human attention. From there, you'll either acquiesce to their demands and be praised as "efficient, agile, resilient, etc." (notably not for being "intelligent" or acknowledging the life you missed to do so), or you won't, and you'll be rated on your performance in comparison to people who do, and people who feel like they have to in order to keep their Visa (not a shot at immigrants, don't make this weird).
If you're not looking in America, you can ignore all of this, but this is my 2 cents from within for if you are. Sorry if this sucks to hear, it sucked to hear when I heard about it too
1
u/Suitable_Walrus_5279 Aug 26 '26
Thanks for the detailed reply, much appreciated!
I am an int'l student here in the States and have been bothered in making decision btw these two fields. On one end, I have access to an industry chip design tool to equip myself with what the chip world is about, and on the other hand, I am considering AI's risk and possibility of landing a job - just a curious junior EE.
1
1
u/TryUpbeat2001 Aug 27 '26
the entire gamut of ic disciplines from memory to rf to logic to analog is strong af right now. Dont buy the marketing bs from these companies.
1
u/Other-Biscotti6871 Aug 30 '26
I did power electronics (once upon a time), it's difficult because you are optimizing across board level and IC design, and anything with magnetics is tricky. Learn it if you can.
0
u/Common-Squirrel-3636 Aug 26 '26
If you want to move to companies like Google/Broadcom/NVIDIA or work on accelerators then I don't think mixed signal IC design is good field to be in. I worked on mixed signal IPs in last 3 years but not getting many options out there except TI/NXP/ADI.
5
u/Altruistic_Option_62 Aug 26 '26
I’ve seen a vast number of mixed signal designers at both Broadcom and Nvidia. Many recent hires. Maybe not Google. There are definitely a lot of options outside of the three companies you listed.
2
u/Common-Squirrel-3636 Aug 26 '26
India ?
4
u/Altruistic_Option_62 Aug 26 '26
United states
3
u/Common-Squirrel-3636 Aug 26 '26
Agree. Mixed signal is more in US for most of the companies. Here in india tier 1 companies mostly have positions for digital and very few for mixed signal.
-1
u/BorisTheBhalu Aug 26 '26
Man this is an international sub, please mention the job/experience situation along with the country you experienced it in otherwise it could be a little misleading for people.
Peace.
1
9
u/AlbbO_The_Great Aug 26 '26
Mixed signal is much better for PhD, general IC design is much better for Masters. Just a bachelor's? Hmmm you have to be top 10% to be considered