Semiconductor majors and university officials pose at Kumoh National Institute of Technology in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, Jan. 25. Korea Times file

The South Korean government will begin a service whereby undergrads and grad students can make and verify the viability of semiconductors they designed, a process of trial and error intended to enhance the young experts' knowledge and advance chip technology, the science ministry of South Korea said Monday.

Propelling the trial run of the government-funded project is to encourage students to have hands-on experience as future chip experts, deepening their understanding of high-tech design and manufacturing of digital devices and their commercial application viabilities.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said chips will be made at labs operated by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Seoul National University and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology. Students will be provided with 500-nanometer complementary metal oxide semiconductor manufacturing and packaging services.

Semiconductor majors will be eligible for the My Chip service. Applications will be accepted from Aug. 1 to 30.

Applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts, given a process design kit and have to submit their designs by Nov. 15. They will receive the products in April next year.

A total of 25 teams will be selected this year. More than 150 teams will be selected from 2024 to 2025 and over 300 teams will be selected from 2026 and after.

Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho said the service will be a valuable experience for students.

"The government will provide assistance to nurture excellent young semiconductor design experts with practical, capacity-building experiences," he said.

The government said last July that it will join hands with chip manufacturers to train and educate over 150,000 semiconductor experts over the next decade.

A number of local universities have established learning courses for chip majors to begin their professional careers at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

The Samsung Group affiliate opened the course in cooperation with Yonsei and Sungkyunkwan universities, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). The SK group affiliate opened such courses at Korea University.