A combined look at the hackathon journey so far – from its national launch and Phase 1 submissions to the 31 teams now developing stronger solutions in Phase 2.
India’s semiconductor ecosystem is entering a transformative phase, driven by new investments, advanced technologies and a growing demand for skilled professionals. At the centre of this transformation is the SEMICON India Hackathon 2026, a national platform that gives students, researchers and emerging innovators an opportunity to solve real-world semiconductor-industry challenges.
This combined update captures the journey from Phase 1 to the present stage. The hackathon is currently in Phase 2. Following the submission round and multiple levels of screening and technical evaluation, 31 teams advanced: 16 teams under the KLA problem statement and 15 teams under the Applied Materials problem statement. They are now strengthening their solutions ahead of the next evaluation round.
24 July 2026 | National launch, registration and Phase 1 submissions opened |
6-7 August 2026 | Applied Materials and KLA knowledge sessions and technical Q&A |
16 August 2026 | Registration and Phase 1 submission deadline |
August 2026 | Initial screening and detailed industry-led technical evaluation |
Current stage | 31 shortlisted teams are developing and validating solutions in Phase 2 |
17-19 September 2026 | Grand Finale at Yashobhoomi (IICC), New Delhi |
To help participants understand the technical expectations, industry experts conducted problem-statement knowledge sessions and live Q&A discussions. The Applied Materials session on 6 August 2026 covered reference and search images, target localisation, navigation-drift recovery, synthetic data generation and performance evaluation.
The KLA session on 7 August 2026 explained degraded semiconductor images, restoration requirements, quality metrics and solution-evaluation expectations.
These sessions gave teams direct access to domain knowledge before the Phase 1 deadline and helped them refine their datasets, technical assumptions, implementation plans and submissions.
Current stage | Phase 2 – solution development and technical evaluation |
Phase 2 teams | 31 shortlisted teams |
KLA track | 16 teams |
Applied Materials track | 15 teams |
Total prize pool | INR 5,00,000 |
Grand Finale | 17-19 September 2026 | Yashobhoomi (IICC), New Delhi |
The SEMICON India Hackathon 2026 features two industry-driven problem statements supported by KLA and Applied Materials. Both challenges bring practical semiconductor inspection requirements into an accessible national innovation programme for students.
The KLA challenge focuses on restoring degraded images used in semiconductor inspection. Teams are developing AI and computer-vision approaches that can improve image quality and recover useful structural detail from images affected by speckle noise, Gaussian noise and reduced spatial resolution. Solutions must balance restoration quality, robustness and inference performance.
The Applied Materials challenge, DriftSense: AI-Powered Navigation-Error Recovery for Wafer Inspection Tools, asks teams to locate reference patterns within noisy, repetitive semiconductor images. Participants are working on target localisation, coordinate estimation, navigation-drift detection, rotation and scale variations, and reliable rejection when the target is absent.
After the Phase 1 deadline on 16 August 2026, submissions went through initial screening followed by detailed technical evaluation by the industry partners. The review considered alignment with the problem statement, technical approach, implementation evidence, results, code quality, documentation and the potential to strengthen the solution during the next stage.
Based on this process, 31 teams were shortlisted for Phase 2: 16 teams for the KLA challenge and 15 teams for the Applied Materials challenge. The shortlist marked the completion of Phase 1 and the transition from initial solution development to deeper technical validation.
Phase 2 moves the competition from an initial solution proposal towards stronger technical validation. Depending on the problem statement, teams are now working on expanded testing, improved model robustness, inference optimisation, clearer documentation and more convincing demonstrations of their approach.
During this stage, industry evaluators and mentors are reviewing progress and sharing technical guidance. The objective is to help teams examine assumptions, identify gaps and improve their engineering decisions without providing direct solutions or creating an unfair advantage.
India’s semiconductor growth requires more than manufacturing investment. It also requires a strong pipeline of engineers with practical skills across semiconductor design, AI, VLSI, computer vision, EDA, manufacturing, packaging and advanced engineering.
Talent is one of the seven focus pillars of Semicon 2.0. The national programme has set a goal of training one lakh semiconductor design engineers in the coming years. Government information also notes that EDA tools have already been extended to more than 320 universities and startups, strengthening the foundation for a wider semiconductor talent pipeline.
By connecting students with industry mentors and real problem statements, the hackathon strengthens the industry-academia bridge and gives emerging engineers experience with the quality, reliability and performance expectations of the semiconductor sector.
The SEMICON India Hackathon 2026 is supported by an ecosystem that combines industry expertise, academic reach and end-to-end innovation-programme execution:
SEMI – Organized by
India Electronics and
Semiconductor Association (IESA) – Strategic Partner
KLA – Industry Partner
Applied Materials – Industry Partner
Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) – Academic Partner
Inter Institutional Inclusive Innovations Centre (i4C) – Hackathon Partner
Together, these organisations are helping participants move beyond classroom learning and engage with real semiconductor engineering challenges under the guidance of industry experts.
At the time of publication, Phase 2 development and evaluation are underway. Following this stage, the top teams will be selected for the Grand Finale, where they will present and demonstrate their solutions before an expert jury comprising semiconductor industry leaders.
The Grand Finale will take place during SEMICON India 2026 from 17-19 September 2026 at Yashobhoomi (IICC), New Delhi. Finalists will receive industry visibility, expert interaction, recognition and networking opportunities while competing for a total prize pool of INR 5,00,000.
The SEMICON India Hackathon 2026 is more than a student competition. It is a platform where education meets industry, ideas meet real-world challenges and young talent encounters the future of semiconductor technology.
As India works towards becoming a stronger global semiconductor hub, initiatives like this can play an important role in developing the skilled workforce required to support the country’s ambitions. The 31 Phase 2 teams now represent the next step in that journey, turning early concepts into stronger, testable solutions.
India’s semiconductor future will be built by engineers who can solve real problems – and the SEMICON India Hackathon 2026 is giving them the platform to begin.
i4C works with organisations, institutions and industry partners to design and execute end-to-end hackathons – from problem-statement development and participant engagement to mentoring, evaluation and the final event.
