KUCHING – A Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus student played a pivotal role in a team that secured the Grand Prize at the SEMI TECH Zoomers Bootcamp 2.0 2026 in Singapore, showcasing the technical expertise and innovative thinking of Swinburne Sarawak students in semiconductor engineering and sustainable artificial intelligence (AI).
Felix Thian Zhi Xiang, a third-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering student at Swinburne Sarawak, and his teammates won the top prize at the Sustainable AI Innovation Challenge with their project, MemoryFlow AI – a proposed AI hardware architecture designed to reduce energy consumption and improve computing efficiency by minimising data movement between memory and processing units.
The winning team comprised Felix, Nureen Sufia binti Azlee from International Islamic University Malaysia, Teo Wei Jun from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Daniel Loh Jia Ze from University of Wollongong Malaysia.
The Sustainable AI Innovation Challenge was part of the four-day SEMI TECH Zoomers Bootcamp 2.0 2026, held from 21 to 24 September 2026 and organised by SEMI Southeast Asia in collaboration with the Singapore Global Network (SGN).
The competition brought together 39 students from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Australia, who worked in teams to develop innovative solutions addressing the growing demand for sustainable and energy-efficient AI technologies. The participants were selected as top performers from the initial bootcamp held in conjunction with SEMICON Southeast Asia 2026 in Kuala Lumpur in May.
MemoryFlow AI is built around the principle of keeping AI model weights close to the computing hardware while allowing smaller amounts of activation data to move through the processing system. By reducing unnecessary data transfers, the proposed architecture aims to improve energy efficiency and computing performance. The team integrated advanced concepts such as 3D-stacked memory, reusable compute chiplets, and compute-near-memory processing to support more efficient AI applications.
Felix played a central role in conceptualising and designing MemoryFlow AI, drawing on his knowledge of semiconductor technology, computer architecture, and integrated circuit design acquired through Swinburne Sarawak’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme. He contributed to the development of the innovative hardware architecture and helped shape the project’s overall technical direction, demonstrating his ability to bridge advanced semiconductor design concepts with emerging AI challenges.
“Representing Swinburne Sarawak on an international platform and contributing to a Grand Prize-winning project has been a truly rewarding experience. The programme has equipped me with the technical knowledge and confidence to tackle real-world challenges in semiconductor and AI hardware design. I hope this achievement inspires more students to pursue innovation and seize opportunities beyond the classroom,” said Felix.
Dr Lee Hui En, Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Swinburne Sarawak, said Felix’s achievement reflected the department’s commitment to developing students who can apply their engineering knowledge to real-world challenges.
“His ability to translate advanced engineering concepts into an innovative and impactful solution reflects the qualities we strive to cultivate in our students. We congratulate Felix and his teammates on their well-deserved success and look forward to seeing him continue to excel as a future leader in the semiconductor and AI industries,” he said.
Four other Swinburne Sarawak students – Perry Wong Soon Le, Chai Kao Jie, Daniel Ong Zhi En, and Alastair Hee Jun Yung – also participated in the bootcamp as members of other teams.
Felix’s achievement reflects how Swinburne Sarawak’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme combines strong theoretical foundations with practical, industry-relevant learning, helping students build the technical knowledge and problem-solving skills needed to contribute to innovation in the rapidly evolving semiconductor and AI industries.
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