Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits

What Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits does

The Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits (commonly 'VLSI Symposium') is the world's longest-running premier technical forum dedicated to very-large-scale integration (VLSI) technology and circuit design, founded in 1981 by Professors Shoji Tanaka and Walter Kosonocky. The organization operates as a collaborative non-profit event under the IEEE Electron Devices Society, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, and the Japan Society of Applied Physics, with technical cooperation from IEICE. Its core product is a five-day annual in-person symposium — held alternately in the US and Japan — comprising plenary sessions, technical sessions with 200+ presentations, evening panels, full-day short courses, six workshops, and demo sessions covering advanced CMOS platforms, interconnect and packaging technologies, AI/ML accelerators, memory, RF/wireless, quantum computing, and biomedical/IoT devices. The 2026 edition is themed 'Advancing the AI Frontier through VLSI Innovation' and runs June 14-18 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu.

The organization serves three primary constituencies: semiconductor industry professionals from companies such as Samsung, Intel, TSMC, NVIDIA, AMD, IBM, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, Micron, Kioxia, and Imec; academic researchers and students who compete for the Best Student Paper Award (established 2004) and access student travel grants; and technology press, who receive complimentary media registration and multilingual press kits. Recognitions include the Test of Time Award (inaugurated 2021) honoring historically significant papers and Best Demo Paper Awards (established 2017), with all accepted papers archived in IEEE Xplore.

Revenue is generated through two streams: tiered attendee registration fees ($550-$1,260 depending on IEEE/JSAP membership status, with student and life member discounts) and add-on fees for workshops ($180-$225), short courses ($530-$675), banquet tickets, and ticketed lunches; and industry sponsorships and exhibition space sold to semiconductor equipment and materials vendors. Distribution combines direct in-person attendance with the VLSI OnDemand virtual platform (available through August 31, 2026) and a mobile application. Day-to-day operations are outsourced to Canfield Event Management (North America/Europe secretariat) and JTB Communication Design (Japan/Far East secretariat), while media relations are handled by BTB Integrated Marketing. The organization operates with approximately 5 employees and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Name

Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits

Legal name

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

Website

https://vlsisymposium.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The VLSI Symposium is a non-profit annual 5-day technical conference co-sponsored by IEEE and JSAP, serving semiconductor industry professionals, academic researchers, and students with presentations, workshops, and short courses on VLSI technology and circuit design since 1981.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Semiconductor Industry Conference Services

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Conferences & Conventions Operations Services (Registration, AV, Logistics) (MPAGAGAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management (THAHACAM), Virtual & Hybrid Event Platforms (Webinars, Virtual Venues, Event Hubs) (THAHAOAA)

Keywords

• VLSI technology symposium
• Semiconductor circuits conference
• Microelectronics professional forum
• Integrated circuits technical event
• Semiconductor industry annual conference

Headquarters

HQ city

Honolulu

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration Fees: Tiered registration fees for IEEE/JSAP members, non-members, life members, and students. Additional revenue from workshop, short course, and event add-ons including banquet tickets and luncheon access.
2. Sponsorships and Exhibits: Industry sponsorship opportunities and exhibition space for semiconductor equipment and services companies

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The organization delivers an annual five-day in-person symposium that combines parallel VLSI Technology and VLSI Circuits tracks featuring plenary sessions, technical paper presentations, evening panels, short courses, focused workshops, and a demo session for outstanding papers. It also provides digital post-event access through VLSI OnDemand, a mobile application (iOS/Android), and a digital proceedings repository. It is supported via tiered registration fees (IEEE/JSAP member, non-member, life member, student), workshop and short-course add-ons, industry sponsorships, and exhibition fees.

Product overview

The 2026 IEEE/JSAP Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits is a five-day annual technical conference focused on advancing AI through VLSI innovation. The core offering is the main symposium event featuring Plenary Sessions, Technical Sessions, Evening Panels, Workshops, Short Courses, and Demo Sessions. The symposium is complemented by digital platforms including VLSI OnDemand (for virtual access to recorded sessions and papers), VLSI 2026 Online/Mobile App (for agenda management and networking), and the Proceedings database. Short Courses and Workshops are add-on educational modules covering specialized topics in VLSI technology and circuits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 2026 IEEE/JSAP Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits The flagship annual five-day technical conference for semiconductor industry professionals and academic researchers, featuring plenary sessions, technical sessions, evening panels, short courses, workshops, and demo sessions across parallel VLSI Technology and VLSI Circuits tracks, with accepted papers published in IEEE Xplore.
• VLSI OnDemand Virtual content-access offering that delivers recorded symposium videos, papers, and presentation slides to attendees, enabling asynchronous viewing of plenary sessions, technical sessions, and demo content beyond the in-person event dates.
• Short Courses Separately priced full-day educational add-ons within the annual symposium, covering advanced logic scaling, AI technologies, AI-driven design acceleration, and related VLSI topics, available as in-person and on-demand formats.
• Workshops Separately priced focused 2-hour workshops held during the annual symposium, covering emerging VLSI topics including Cryo-CMOS, chiplet ecosystems, generative AI design, quantum computing circuits, advanced logic, photonics, and 3D packaging technologies, with bundle pricing available alongside short courses.

Quantifiable outcome

• 46 years of continuous operation since 1981
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Applied MaterialsminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 16 June 2026Hosting inaugural panel discussion during VLSI 2026 titled 'What Limits Compute and What Breaks Those Limits' exploring AI hardware constraints and opportunities
• KiddieCorpOthers · 16 June 2026Childcare services provider for SSCS Children's Program at VLSI 2026, offering childcare for children ages 6 months through 12 years during conference hours
• Spintronics Workshop on LSIOthers · 14 June 2026Satellite workshop held June 14, 2026 highlighting emerging spintronics technologies for LSI applications; free but requires separate registration
• Silicon Nanoelectronics WorkshopOthers · 13 June 2026Satellite event held June 13-14, 2026 as a separate registration event co-located with VLSI symposium
• Canfield Event ManagementOthers · 1 January 2026VLSI Secretariat handling North America and Europe operations including registration, paper submission, and program coordination
• JTB Communication Design, Inc.Others · 1 January 2026VLSI Secretariat handling Japan and Far East operations
• BTB Integrated MarketingOthers · 1 January 2026Media relations partner for North America and EU handling press inquiries and media coordination
• Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1987Technical cooperation partner providing additional academic support and international reach for the symposia
• IEEE Electron Devices SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1981Primary co-sponsor of the VLSI Technology Symposium; provides organizational support, technical program oversight, and member promotion; has supported the symposium since its founding in 1981
• IEEE Solid-State Circuits SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1981Primary co-sponsor of the VLSI Circuits Symposium; provides organizational support, technical program oversight, and member promotion; supports student travel awards and Women in Engineering events
• Japan Society of Applied PhysicscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1981Co-sponsor providing Japanese regional support and coordination; enables the symposium's alternating US-Japan format and strong Asian industry participation

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Design Automation Conference (DAC): The leading conference on EDA, design methodology, and chip implementation. Overlaps with the VLSI Circuits track audience and competes for the same EDA-tool sponsorships and design-engineer attendance.
• IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC): IEEE conference focused on custom and application-specific integrated circuits. Overlaps with the VLSI Circuits track in audience and content, drawing many of the same industrial analog and mixed-signal circuit researchers.
• Hot Chips: A symposium on high-performance chips that has become a major destination for AI accelerator and advanced chip disclosures. Competes with the VLSI Symposium for cutting-edge circuit and architecture papers from NVIDIA, AMD, and similar companies.
• IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM): IEEE's premier electron devices conference, co-sponsored by IEEE Electron Devices Society — the same society that co-sponsors the VLSI Technology Symposium. Competes directly for the same advanced CMOS and process technology research papers.
• IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC): The flagship IEEE conference on solid-state circuits and the natural sister event to the VLSI Circuits track. Both are co-sponsored by IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society and draw overlapping elite circuit-design audiences from the same semiconductor companies.
• ICCAD (IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design): Premier ACM/IEEE conference on electronic design automation, closely related to DAC. Competes for EDA-focused papers and design-tool sponsorships relevant to VLSI circuit implementation.

Broad incumbents

• IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS): IEEE's flagship RF and microwave conference. Overlaps with the wireless/RF circuit content of the VLSI Symposium and shares some industrial attendees from companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek.
• SEMICON: The semiconductor industry's largest global trade show and exhibition series. Overlaps on sponsors and equipment-company participation (Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron) but is broader in scope and commercial rather than research-focused.

Regional players

• DATE Conference (Design, Automation & Test in Europe): The leading European EDA and design conference. Comparable in content scope to the VLSI Symposium but serves a primarily European audience, making it a regional alternative for design and test researchers.
• ESSCIRC / ESSDERC: Joint European Solid-State Circuits and Devices Research Conference. Comparable to the VLSI Symposium's dual track structure but held in Europe, serving European semiconductor industry and academic researchers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VLSI_2026
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vlsisymposium

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits