PIM Research Center, Semiconductor Workforce Training... 300 University Students Nationwide Registered

Integration with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix
Hands-on Hardware Practice Opportunities with AiM and Others

The PIM Semiconductor Design Research Center conducted theoretical and practical training on PIM-based technologies from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics for undergraduate and graduate students in related departments to cultivate AI semiconductor specialists.

Group photo of SK Hynix training held at KAIST PIM Semiconductor Design Research Center
[Photo by Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation]

PIM (Processing-In-Memory) refers to semiconductor design technology that adds computing functions to memory semiconductors, increasing data processing speed while reducing power consumption in AI and big data processing fields. In the AI era, the demand for processing vast amounts of data, such as large language models, is rapidly increasing, making the adoption of PIM technology more essential.

The PIM Semiconductor Design Research Center operates at KAIST in Daejeon with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, under the PIM AI Semiconductor Core Technology Development Project.

The center runs educational programs to train specialists in PIM semiconductors. The recent lectures were held at the center on the 20th and 21st of last month for SK Hynix training, and on the 4th and 5th of this month for Samsung Electronics training.

Using SK Hynix’s AiM (the product name for SK Hynix’s PIM semiconductor) and Samsung Electronics’ HBM-PIM, students were given hands-on practice opportunities. Over 300 students from 25 universities nationwide registered.

The lectures covered topics such as ▲ SK Hynix’s "Utilization in Large Language Model (LLM) acceleration environments using PIM" and ▲ Samsung Electronics’ "Utilization of HBM and HBM-PIM in AI acceleration environments." Additionally, changes in the environment due to the emergence of GPT, basic knowledge of AI and LLM, and the operating principles of chatbot services were discussed. Students practiced by directly operating hardware in server environments equipped with SK Hynix’s AiM and Samsung Electronics’ HBM-PIM.

Yu Hoe-jun, director of the PIM Semiconductor Design Research Center, stated, "As interest in AI-PIM semiconductors grows, we plan to continuously expand related educational programs. Through this, participants will be able to keep up with the latest technological trends and develop skills that can be immediately applied in the field."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.