AI Hardware Design League doubles in size
(From left) ECE assistant professor Soheil Salehi and graduate students Sujan Ghimire, Veeramani Pugazhenthi, Harish Kumar Dharavath and Md Muhtasim Alam Chowdhury facilitate the second annual AI-HDL awards ceremony on May 12, 2026.
The University of Arizona's Artificial Intelligence Hardware Design League (AI-HDL) wrapped up its global competition with an awards ceremony on May 12, honoring student competitors with awards and industry connections.
The second AI-HDL nearly tripled participation, up 604 students from 172 in its inaugural year. The 108 teams across 30 universities, six community colleges and four continents began designing a secure RISC-V processor, a popular architecture for microcontrollers and embedded systems, in October 2025.
San Francisco State University's SFSU-NeCRL team won the best overall design, as well as first place in the graduate division.
Connecting talent with industry leaders
AI-HDL founder and ECE assistant professor Soheil Salehi delivered opening remarks on the league's mission to make opportunities in AI hardware design accessible for all.
"AI-HDL was built on the belief that the next generation of semiconductor innovators can come from anywhere in the world with any background,” said Salehi. “Seeing teams from Vietnam, Nigeria, Belgium, Türkiye, India and right here in the U.S. competing at this level is proof that when you lower barriers and create real opportunities, students rise to meet them."
ECE department head and Thomas R. Brown Leadership Chair Michael Wu led the career panel, featuring leaders from industry and academia. Panelists included ECE and SIE assistant professor Pratik Satam; Aned De León Flores of the University of Sonora, Mexico; Richard Quiroz of Cadence Design Systems; Atul Kwatra of Intel Corp.; and Jovan Andjelich of ChipMango.
Students had an opportunity to engage directly with professionals shaping the semiconductor industry, while industry representatives met emerging talent from U of A and beyond.
“The industry is rapidly changing, and every leader is racing to integrate these new technologies,” said Andjelich. “Having students with project experience on these topics really sets them apart."
"What made this panel so valuable was the honesty of the conversation,” said Wu. “Our students didn't just hear from industry leaders – they heard what those leaders are actually looking for, and that kind of direct connection is something no classroom can fully replicate.”
AI-HDL winning teams
Best overall design – SFSU-NeCRL (San Francisco State University)
Most secure design – Acona-Tech (Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University)
Most energy-efficient design – HUST1 (Hanoi University of Science and Technology)
Most area-efficient design – ICLAB_HUST2 (Hanoi University of Science and Technology)
Community college and undergraduate division
1st place: ITIMS Boys (Hanoi University of Science and Technology)
2nd place: Electronova (College of Engineering Trivandrum)
3rd place: Maestro (University of Arizona)
Graduate division
1st place: SFSU-NeCRL (San Fransico State University)
2nd place: Devrem (Yildiz Technical University)
3rd place: Team Team – (KU Leuven)
Complete this form to participate in the 2026–27 competition.