A team at USC is democratizing advanced semiconductor development by equipping researchers with rapid design generators, validated IP libraries, and FPGA-based prototyping platforms. Their tools dramatically reduce the time and technical barriers between early-stage concepts and working silicon, shrinking a process that once took years down to just months.  

Rehan Kapadia, director of MOSIS 2.0, shared how the service is building on its pioneering legacy to create a national network that lowers barriers, accelerates prototyping, and drives U.S. innovation in microelectronics.

USC-led study challenges assumptions about technician demand as chip manufacturing expands, and demonstrates a shortage in engineers. This new job posting screening system could be used to monitor workforce needs in real time for any industry.

At the MOSIS 2.0 Developer Workshop in Arlington, Virginia, government and industry leaders explored how the platform can expand its role in national microelectronics innovation. The panel, “Strategic Leadership through Accelerated Prototyping,” highlighted ways MOSIS 2.0 can streamline lab-to-fab transitions, support defense applications, and build a sustainable model for long-term impact.

As CA DREAMS’ semiconductor fabrication service transitions to full-scale operations, Rehan Kapadia, a longtime faculty contributor and director of the USC John O’Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory, is named the new Director of MOSIS 2.0. Kapadia brings a strong vision for advancing MOSIS 2.0’s mission to accelerate semiconductor prototyping.

In 2025, MOSIS 2.0, is significantly expanding its semiconductor prototyping capabilities beyond Southern California to include technologies from two additional technology hubs: the Southwest Advanced Prototyping (SWAP) Hub, led by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University, and the Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) Hub in Ohio.

CA DREAMS hosted a distinguished delegation from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) at the University of Southern California. The visit marked a step toward deepening commercial and technological ties between the U.S. and Taiwan—particularly in the fields of semiconductors and microelectronics.

UC San Diego’s work is part of the California DREAMS hub, a Southern California regional coalition of universities, contractors and workforce-development organizations led by the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and its Information Sciences Institute (ISI).

Over four decades, MOSIS delivered more than 60,000 integrated circuit designs and generated up to $10 million annually at its peak. Now, its successor, MOSIS 2.0, is advancing this legacy to address the next-generation of chip innovation.

For its second year of operation, hub partner Northrop Grumman leads two major projects: one aims to develop a next-generation semiconductor material known as gallium nitride (GaN), and the other aims to create advanced prototypes for faster, more reliable, next-generation wireless networks.