In-depth conversations with leaders from industry and academia who are shaping the future of semiconductors. Their technology insights, market challenges, social impact, leadership lessons, and guidance for the next generation.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and Special Advisor on Semiconductors to the Purdue President.
Mark Lundstrom, Ph.D.
Industry Trends & Future Outlook
Q: From your personal perspective, what do you see as the most important trends shaping the semiconductor industry over the next 5–10 years?
A: The build-out of AI data center infrastructure is driving everything now. The focus is on GPUs, AI accelerators, HBM, etc., but the applications across more and more sectors of our economy will require mission/industry/product-specific solutions that will require a broad range of lower volume, more specialized semiconductor technologies. How will we address that high mix/moderate or even low-volume, but critically important need?
Q: How do you personally stay informed or adapt to changes in this evolving landscape?
A: Pretty much as I have in the past…. Conferences, journal publications, personal contacts. These days one of my favorite way to keep up to date is with Tom’s Hardware.
Technology & Innovation Strategy
Q: With rapid advances in semiconductor technologies and supporting innovations such as AI, 6G, and advanced chip design, how do you personally prioritize staying innovative?
A: As academics, we support innovation by providing students a solid education in fundamental science and engineering science, which changes slowly but provides a career-long foundation for innovation. We also prioritize innovation by supporting the creation of start-ups by our faculty and students. Hard tech, semiconductor, startups are a challenge that we need to address to bring fresh, innovative, off-the-industry-roadmap technologies into the market.
Q: Which emerging technologies do you find most exciting or potentially transformative for the industry?
A: We’re at the beginning of what could be a transformative transition from the system-on-chip (SoP) era to a system-in-package (SiP) era. For that to happen in a significant way, we’re going to need more standardization, a new class of EDA tools, and a clear articulation of SiP design principles. We may need a “Mead and Conway” for SiP design.
I also personally find “physics inspired computing” -- some of it quantum physics inspired, but some of it classical, like thermodynamic computing, using machines, probabilistic computing, etc. -- all very interesting, new approaches that are being brought into the design community from outside the traditional community.
Sustainability & Social Impact
Q: As the semiconductor sector grows, sustainability and ethical considerations are increasingly important. From your perspective, what practices or strategies are most effective for promoting environmental responsibility and social impact?
A: From an academic perspective, the first thing we can do it to provide our students who enter the semiconductor industry at any part of the ecosystem with an understanding of sustainability and environmental responsibility in a semiconductor context. We’re now integrating this understanding into our university-wide semiconductor certificate. The second thing we can do is to develop graduate students with a deep understanding of these issues that they can bring with them as they enter the industry. At my university, Purdue University, our new School of Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering (SEE) is leading the way on both of these fronts.
Leadership Lessons & Personal Insights
Q: Looking back, what was the toughest professional decision you’ve made, and what did you learn from it?
A: For me, it came early in my career. I had to decide whether to take a nice promotion or go back to school and earn a PhD. I’m sure that I would have had a successful career going either way, but I chose the Ph.D. and now am in my 45th year as a professor. My family worried that I was making a big mistake when I turned down that promotion, but you have to take the path that right for you, and that only you know what that path is.
Q: What advice would you give to individuals, startups, or entrepreneurs entering the semiconductor industry today?
A: We tell our students that semiconductor technology is foundational – it has shaped the world we live in today and will transform industry and society in the years to come. We tell them that is a growing industry that will grow for years to come, and that it is a broad ecosystem that has opportunities for people with broad range of talents and abilities. Whatever your STEM degree, there are interesting jobs for you in the semiconductor industry, is what we tell our students.
Q: How do you personally see semiconductor technologies and innovations like AI shaping society in the coming years?
A: The impact is sure to be huge, but exactly how it will play out no one can predict. Very bright people are optimistic, and other bright people are worried. I just hope that we commit at this early stage to making it a force for good – for the prosperity and security of all of our people.
Mark Lundstrom is the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and currently serves as Special Advisor on Semiconductors to the Purdue President. A long-standing leader in engineering education and research, he has twice served as Purdue’s Dean of Engineering, helping guide the university’s strategic growth in semiconductor innovation.
His research and teaching span the physics, modeling, and simulation of semiconductor materials and devices, including foundational work on the scaling limits of MOSFETs that helped enable transistor design and manufacturing at the 10-nanometer scale. A pioneer in open-access engineering education, Lundstrom founded nanoHUB, which for nearly 30 years has provided global access to semiconductor simulation tools and open educational resources for students, researchers, and industry professionals.
He is the author of numerous research papers and six books, and his contributions have been recognized through some of the field’s highest honors, including being named an IEEE Life Fellow and Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Lundstrom earned his BEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Minnesota and completed his Ph.D. at Purdue University. He began his career in industry, working in semiconductor R&D and manufacturing before returning to academia.