Intel Custom Foundry Design Engineer Jobs
Intel Foundry is Intel's bet that it can sell manufacturing to outside chip companies the way TSMC and Samsung do. Backing it is more than $100 billion in new fabs across Arizona, Ohio, Ireland, and Germany, plus a design-enablement organization that has to make Intel's process usable by teams that have never worked inside Intel before.
Intel custom foundry design engineer jobs sit at that handoff, between the process technology and the customer's chip. The roles cover PDK development, design rule manual authoring, physical verification, technology CAD, and design-technology co-optimization. Intel 3, Intel 18A, and the upcoming Intel 14A each need engineers who understand CMOS device physics and the EDA flows customers actually run.
Day to day, that means building and qualifying the standard cell libraries, reference flows, and rule decks external customers design against, then working with the process team to tune them for yield and performance. Intel 18A adds RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery, so the design kits have to capture behavior that older FinFET flows never modeled.
Intel Foundry hires for these roles at its major sites: Hillsboro in Oregon, Chandler in Arizona, Leixlip in Ireland, and Haifa in Israel. Filter by sub-discipline and level on SemiDesignJobs to narrow the list.
The appeal is leverage. A PDK or reference flow you sign off on gets used by every external customer on that node, a wider blast radius than shipping one product. If you would rather implement chips than enable them, Intel physical design engineer jobs and TSMC process design engineer jobs cover the neighboring paths.
Compensation tracks advanced-node process and physical-design experience. US roles commonly land in the $150K to $230K base range before bonus and equity, higher at staff and principal levels; the salary guide has fuller numbers by level. Save a search on SemiDesignJobs and you will get an email when a new Intel Foundry role opens.
FAQ
What does an Intel Foundry design engineer do
They develop and validate the design kits, reference flows, and IP libraries external customers use to design chips on Intel's process nodes. They also work with process technology teams on design-technology co-optimization to raise yield and performance on Intel 3, 18A, and future nodes.
What process nodes is Intel Foundry currently offering
Intel Foundry offers Intel 16, Intel 3, and Intel 18A to external customers, with Intel 14A in development. Intel 18A introduces RibbonFET gate-all-around transistors and PowerVia backside power delivery, a large step in process technology.
What background is required for Intel Foundry design engineer jobs
Most candidates hold a BS or MS in EE with experience in physical design, DRC and LVS, or process technology. Familiarity with Cadence Virtuoso or Siemens Calibre and knowledge of FinFET or gate-all-around device physics are strong advantages.