Drexel University’s College of Engineering is part of a $10 million research and development effort led by Princeton University and backed by the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) to advance the use of artificial intelligence in designing microchips for next-generation wireless communication. The project is one of several major initiatives backed by the NSTC, a national consortium established under the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen U.S. leadership in semiconductor research and innovation.
Funded for 30 months, the project aims to automate the traditionally labor-intensive process of designing analog and radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuits, components critical to devices ranging from satellites to self-driving cars. The Princeton-led team includes academic and industry partners from across the country, including Drexel, the University of Southern California, Northeastern University, Cadence, Raytheon, Keysight, and GlobalFoundries.
Ioannis Savidis, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading Drexel’s role in the effort. His research group is contributing machine learning models that can predict the performance of circuit designs based on their structural parameters, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming simulations.
“We’re building forward prediction models that analyze circuit data, material properties, and design flows to estimate performance metrics of RF circuits — things like gain, bandwidth, power efficiency, match network structure, and more,” Savidis said. “That’s a critical piece of building scalable AI tools that can assist in the chip design process.”
Beyond machine learning (ML)-driven prediction, the Drexel team is contributing models that generate novel RF circuit topologies that are properly auto-sized and biased by these ML algorithms, a challenging task that is currently performed by highly trained RF design engineers.
Drexel’s share of the funding for the project totals just more than $1 million. Work is now underway, with Drexel researchers supporting the larger effort to demonstrate how AI can lower development costs, accelerate timelines, and unlock new architectures that outperform traditional designs.
Beyond its role in the NSTC, Drexel is also a member of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Mid-Atlantic Hub Network, a Department of Defense initiative aimed at moving microelectronics innovations out of the lab and into real-world manufacturing and application. Through the NSTC and the AFRL hub, Drexel is eligible to compete for funding to prototype and commercialize semiconductor technologies in partnership with other regional academic and industry leaders.
“These national networks are giving us access to emerging opportunities across the semiconductor ecosystem,” Savidis said. “Whether it’s through NSTC or AFRL, we’re putting ourselves in position to contribute to the next generation of chip design, with real pathways to commercialization.”
Together, these affiliations underscore Drexel Engineering’s expanding role in the national effort to reestablish U.S. leadership in semiconductor research, design, and workforce development. As the Princeton-led project gains momentum and new opportunities emerge through AFRL, Drexel’s faculty and students are positioned to help shape the technologies powering tomorrow’s RF communication infrastructure.