Intern, Thermal Modeling & Simulation Engineer (AI Memory / HBM) - San Jose, California, United States
Originally posted 28 October 2026 by the employer.
Build and calibrate compact thermal and CFD models for 3D-stacked HBM and advanced packaging in the Power & Thermal Lab.
About the role
Samsung's Power & Thermal Lab is seeking a thermal engineering intern to build and calibrate models of HBM stacks and packages. The lab builds compact thermal models that turn workload-driven power maps of 3D-stacked HBM into transient temperature maps.
What you'll do
- Build and calibrate CFD models (Simcenter Flotherm) of HBM stacks and packages under realistic cooling conditions to serve as the reference for fast models. - Extend compact thermal models to new stack heights, die configurations, and base-die power, quantifying accuracy against CFD in steady state and transient conditions. - Develop homogenization methods that replace fine features (TSV arrays, micro-bump layers, underfill) with effective properties. - Speed up thermal solvers through model-order reduction, sparse linear algebra, preconditioning, GPU acceleration, or machine-learning surrogates. - Run transient simulations driven by real AI workload traces, locate spatiotemporal hotspots, and explore thermal-aware policies including throttling, refresh control, and power-map scheduling. - Couple the thermal model with the lab's trace-driven power simulation engine so power maps and temperature maps evolve together in time.
What you'll need
- Currently pursuing a Master's degree or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field, with at least 1 academic quarter/semester remaining. - Strong foundation in heat transfer, especially transient conduction in multi-layer solids and thermal contact resistance. - Hands-on experience with numerical methods (finite-volume, finite-element, or finite-difference) and scientific programming in Python and/or MATLAB. - Demonstrated ability to evaluate simulation results critically (mesh convergence, boundary conditions, energy balance) and explain model discrepancies.
Nice to have
- Pursuing a PhD in a relevant field. - Experience with Simcenter Flotherm, Ansys Icepak/Fluent, or COMSOL. - Experience with compact or reduced-order thermal models, model-order reduction, or ML surrogates for physical simulation. - Background in electronics packaging, 3D-IC / chiplet thermal management, or advanced cooling. - Familiarity with HPC, sparse linear solvers, or GPU programming.
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 53-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1022
|
Median days open
53 d
|
Median salary
$155k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Samsung Semiconductor | All employers we track in this specialty (1022 roles · 100 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 4 | 1022 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 14 | 6312 · 146 employers |
| Median days open | 13 d | 53 d (−40 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $155k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 76 open roles · median 40 d
- KLA Corporation · 63 open roles · median 54 d
- Teradyne · 58 open roles · median 40 d
- Applied Materials · 49 open roles · median 68 d
- NVIDIA · 49 open roles · median 71 d
- AMD · 43 open roles · median 57 d
How we counted: 1022 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 100 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 28 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.