RTL Intern

About Etched

Etched is at the forefront of innovation, building the world’s first AI inference system purpose-built for transformers. Our cutting-edge ASICs deliver over 10x higher performance and dramatically lower cost and latency compared to a B200, enabling the creation of products previously deemed impossible with traditional GPUs. Imagine real-time video generation models and extremely deep & parallel chain-of-thought reasoning agents – this is the future Etched is building.

Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, Etched is actively redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest-growing industry in history.

Job Summary

As an RTL Intern at Etched, you will play a crucial role in the design and implementation of our groundbreaking hardware. You will actively contribute to the development of microarchitecture and implement logic using Verilog. This role offers the unique opportunity to work with cutting-edge machine learning architectures, contributing to RTL block development, and participating in the full design cycle – from initial microarchitecture discussions through to synthesis and timing feedback.

While prior ML/AI hardware experience is not a strict requirement, we seek candidates with a strong ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced, high-autonomy environment.

Qualifications

You may be a good fit if you have:

• Progress towards a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a related field.
• Familiarity with high-speed digital logic principles.
• Exposure to ASIC or SoC design concepts.
• Familiarity with SystemVerilog, UVM, or Python.
• Familiarity with verification work and writing test benches.
• Familiarity with physical design flows and tooling.
• The ability to learn quickly about transformers and other aspects of modern artificial intelligence.

Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice to have qualifications):

• Familiarity with transformer models and machine learning concepts.
• Familiarity with numerical representations and functions.
• Familiarity with clocking and reset schemes in digital design.
• Ability to program with Python or another scripting language.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification.

Program Details

• A comprehensive 12-week paid internship program (June – August 2026).
• Generous housing support for those relocating to San Jose, CA.
• Daily lunch and dinner provided in our office.
• Based at our vibrant office in San Jose, CA (Santana Row).
• Direct mentorship from industry leaders and world-class engineers.
• An unparalleled opportunity to work on one of the most important problems of our time.

How We’re Different

Etched firmly believes in The Bitter Lesson. We contend that the majority of progress in the AI field stems from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the most effective way to achieve this is by building model-specific hardware. The trend of increasingly larger training runs naturally encourages companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, thereby creating a compelling market for single-model ASICs.

We operate as a fully in-person team in San Jose (Santana Row), placing immense value on exceptional engineering skills. At Etched, we foster an environment with no boundaries between engineering and research, expecting all our technical staff to contribute to both areas as needed.

Contact Information

For any questions, please contact: internships@etched.com