Researchers at Lero, the University of Limerick-based Research Centre for Software, have created the world's first fabrication and design of a silicon chip without direct human input.
Lero said this could herald the possibility of creating a new high-tech export-based industry in Ireland.
Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Limerick Conor Ryan led the research team.
It has just filed a patent for the totally Irish-designed process that came from a project entitled "Automatic Design of Digital Circuits" (ADDC) and is funded by Research Ireland.
The Limerick-based team plans to work with selected global chip design and fabrication companies after the successful manufacture of the Lero-designed chip by chip foundry TSMC, paving the way for a new era of automated digital circuit design.
"This is the first time ever anywhere in the world that machine learning has been used to design and fabricate a silicon chip entirely from scratch. This could pave the way for a new era of automated digital circuit design with Ireland at its centre, creating a new export industry with many well-paying jobs," Professor Ryan, a lead researcher at Lero, said.
"The patent secures the proprietary methods and novel approach to automating silicon chip design's traditionally manual, complex, and error-prone process," he said.
"The techniques created by Lero replace traditional methods with an entirely automated flow, reducing the need for human intervention and minimising the risks of design errors," he added.
Hosted by the University of Limerick, Lero's academic partners include Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Maynooth University, Munster Technological University, South East Technological University, Technological University Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin and University of Galway.
