Engineering Talent Partners with a Leading AI Semiconductor Innovator
- Client: Leading Developer of AI Chiplets and High-Performance Computer Architectures
- Industry: Semiconductor / AI Hardware
- Services Provided: Design Engineers, DFT Engineers, Hardware Engineers, Software Engineers
- Engagement Model: Specialized Contractor Support
For many companies within blossoming industries, bandwidth can oftentimes be the primary bottleneck for abundant growth. Relying too heavily on a small niche team working around the clock can result in errors, a disgruntled workforce, and a limited capacity for scaling services. It’s important to identify when a team is stretched too thin and when team expansion is necessary for workers’ health and the health of the overall company. Specifically in the flourishing Semiconductor industry, how quickly a company is able to scale their workforce can be the difference between total success and failure. With this knowledge, ALKU is constantly prepared to indicate and add key players to any specialized team to ensure optimized and efficient results. ALKU’s Semiconductor Team has the right Engineers, Architects, and Designers at the ready to get any Semiconductor client they need as promptly as possible.
The Challenge:
Bandwidth and Scaling
A cutting-edge AI Semiconductor company building next generation chiplets and computer architectures needed to scale multiple engineering teams rapidly. Their internal growth was constrained by bandwidth across mission-critical areas including high-performance AI chiplet design and verification, advanced DFT (Design for Test) implementation and scan insertion, board-level hardware validation and bring-up, and low-level software support for chip-to-chip communication and boot firmware
The plan:
Organizing a Team of Data Experts
The ALKU Semiconductor Team identified four core Engineering disciplines that would need consultants to fully meet the needs of the client: AI Chiplet Architecture & RTL Design Engineers, Test Infrastructure for Complex SoCs DFT Engineers, System Bring-Up & Validation Hardware Engineers, and Firmware and Low-Level Tools Software Engineers. With each core discipline identified, ALKU’s Semiconductor Team got to work, finding the specialists required to ensure this client was able to scale their operation as effectively as possible.
AI Chiplet Architecture & RTL Design Engineers contributed to the client’s custom chiplet architecture by owning blocks of RTL design and microarchitecture for compute and interconnect logic, supporting clocking and reset architecture, floor planning inputs, and synthesis handoff, and collaborating with physical design and firmware teams for seamless integration.
DFT Engineers with deep Synopsys and Siemens toolchain knowledge were deployed to implement scan insertion, boundary scan, ATPG pattern generation, and MBIST, automate test flow for multi-chiplet configurations, and support silicon debug and test vector coverage analysis post-silicon.
System Bring-Up & Validation Hardware Engineers contributed to package substrate design and board bring-up for AI chiplets by owning schematic capture and layout reviews for custom boards, working on signal integrity and power integrity validation for high-speed interfaces, and partnering with lab teams to debug and validate board-level systems.
Lastly, the Firmware and Low-Level Tools Software Engineers supported embedded and tools development efforts by developing early bootloaders and runtime firmware, building internal validation frameworks for chiplet-to-chiplet communication, and collaborating with verification and hardware teams for continuous integration.
Each consultant was expected to be ready to jump into any task mid-project and bring scalable results to the client while removing the workload bottleneck from the specialized client team.
The Result:
Technical Foundations Provided
Together, these specialists were able to bring deep expertise in complex SoC design and AI hardware development while giving the client team much more bandwidth to focus on mission-critical tasks they had game planned. AI Chiplet Architecture & RTL Design Engineers delivered multiple high-performance RTL blocks on schedule for their next-generation AI tile. The DFT Engineers accelerated tapeout readiness and post-silicon validation for multi-chiplet test flows. The System Bring-Up & Validation Hardware Engineers reduced time-to-first signal by 40% on key development platforms. Lastly, the Firmware and Low-Level Tools Software Engineers enabled smooth bring-up of new silicon by providing robust, testable firmware early in the lifecycle. For the project, the Consultant Team as a whole delivered key RTL, DFT, and hardware milestones within aggressive takeout windows, strengthened internal test infrastructure and validation workflows, and enabled cross-disciplinary collaboration between hardware and software through integrated consulting teams.
The wrap up :
ALKU Semiconductor Team
The ALKU Semiconductor Team was tasked with gathering Semiconductor experts to reduce the scaling bottleneck that had constrained internal growth within a cutting-edge AI Semiconductor company building next generation chiplets. These professionals would guarantee the success and growth of the client engineering teams and various mission-critical areas within the project. Experts were identified and placed, and the client was able to hit key development milestones to remove the constraints holding them back from flourishing in their industry. Partner with ALKU’s Semiconductor Consulting Team to strengthen your engineering capacity, accelerate critical project milestones, and discuss a tailored strategy for your organization’s growth.
