XMOS
XMOS is an innovative fabless semiconductor company. XMOS
Our Scholarships
Placement Location
Bristol
Type of Placements Offered
• Summer placements • 12-month placements • 6-month MEng placements
Restrictions/Notes
2023/24 Scholarships
We are not offering any new scholarships this year
Who we are and what we do
XMOS is an innovative fabless semiconductor company with its headquarters and development activities in Bristol, UK and additional development facilities in Chennai, India. The company’s wide range of configurable xCORE® multicore microcontrollers allows engineers to create the exact hardware system that they need for their application all in software, delivering the next wave in high performance, real-time, programmable system-on-chip solutions. This makes xCORE multicore microcontrollers ideal for demanding embedded applications in audio, automotive, consumer and industrial products, where other microcontrollers struggle. XMOS provides xTIMEcomposer™ Studio, an easy to use development system that makes it simple to design complex embedded systems all in software.
What you could be doing during your work placement
XMOS develops multicore microcontrollers. We have in-house teams for chip design, verification, tools-development, and application development. Depending on your interests and skills, we can offer an internship in any of these areas.
Hardware oriented placements can focus on chip design (digital design, physical design, verification) or application design (schematics capture and PCB design).
Software oriented placements can focus on application development (embedded software), tools development (compiler, linker, debugger, IDE), or chip design (verification).
XMOS offers an open and dynamic working environment, where you will quickly get to know everyone across a variety of departments. We get all of our interns involved in real projects that aim to find its way into products used by our customer base.
As part of the placement, you will find that you develop transferable skills related to your core engineering skills; for example communicating your ideas, documenting your work, teamwork, and managing your time. In addition you will be able to observe first-hand all aspects of running a chip business at our head office based in Bristol.
Meet one of our scholars
Name: Holly
Sponsor: XMOS
University: University of Bristol
Degree Course: MEng Computer Science and Electronics with Study Abroad
What appeals to me about Electronics
Most people say they knew this is what they wanted to do since they were 2, but being completely honest falling in love with electronics was a complete accident for me. At 16 I knew I wanted to stay on at school, having always loved learning, and picked the three subjects I loved the most, Maths, Physics and Chemistry to study. I decided I wanted to use them to do something practical. That’s when I found electronics, a subject where I can explain the effects of electronic components with Physics and Maths, and design and build pretty much whatever I can imagine. It’s a perfect fit.
Why I chose XMOS
Reading the UKESF profile for XMOS I was immediately impressed with how many different areas they listed it was possible to work in. They also said that they get their interns involved in real projects; I wanted to get working on something practical outside of the lecture theatre. I was interested in how semiconductors work and enjoying my Computer Architecture module at the time. It’s been the best decision, XMOS is a start-up so everyone here is pushing to be as innovative as possible, and they’re all passionate about what they do.
My placement and its value
I’ve been involved in rtl design during my placement, this means I have been designing hardware circuits that could be used as part of a semiconductor design. I was given c functions that modelled behaviour you would want to replicate on chip, such as manipulating floating point numbers, and then designed equivalent circuits in System-Verilog, using boolean logic and multiplexers. They’ve helped me explore the design process, testing, synthing, and looking at timing. It’s been incredibly interesting and enjoyable, I’ve learnt a hardware description language, how to work with a wide range of different software tools, and my personal confidence in my abilities has increased immeasurably.
My interests
I love travelling, I’ve managed to fit in visiting Germany, Spain and Belgium this summer whilst completing my placement. I’m passionate about dance and music, I compete on a competitive Cheerleading squad at University, we placed 3rd at the Future Cheer University National’s this year. I’ve recently been elected as President of Bristol’s Women in Engineering Society, and hope to use the role to support female engineers studying at Bristol, and to encourage others to study engineering.
Meet one of our Engineers
Name: Andy
Job Title: Senior Applications Engineer
At school
My favourite subject at school was Design & Technology. I studied it at GCSE and then at A Level along with Maths and Physics. It had a heavy electronics and software element and my A Level projects were products that included everything from PCB design to enclosure manufacture.
My Engineering degree
I couldn’t make my mind up whether I wanted to study Computer Science or Electronic Engineering at university, so when I found that University of Bristol offered a joint masters in both, it was the perfect choice. I undertook summer work placements at XMOS between my third and fourth year. XMOS was spun-out from University of Bristol and had hired many engineers straight from the university. I liked the young, start-up environment and the work was a good match for the skills I acquired during my degree.
And now
I am now a Senior Applications Engineer at XMOS. My job in the Applications team involves implementing a new set of Ethernet standards called Audio Video Bridging that enables time-synchronised, low latency streaming of audio and video. I enjoy interacting with customers and engineers worldwide, working in small teams, and working on an emerging application on a cutting-edge technology. When I’m not working I enjoy music, movies and travelling.