Team AER, composed of students from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, won first place overall in the Agentic FPGA Backend Optimization Competition held at FPL 2026 (Field-Programmable Logic and Applications 2026). The AER team consists of Sookwan Han and Sihun Lim, undergraduate students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University; Jun Sung, a graduate student in the department; and Haeun Ji, a graduate of Kyung Hee University. Professor Jinho Lee of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University served as the team’s advisor.

Sponsored by AMD and held as part of FPL 2026, the competition evaluated methods for automatically optimizing FPGA designs using AI agent technology. Participating teams developed systems that analyze given FPGA designs and automate the process of improving their performance. Team AER developed a system that enables AI agents not merely to repeat predetermined tasks, but to explore various optimization strategies independently, compare the results of each strategy, and select the next approach. The team also applied an iterative structure that analyzes execution results and continuously improves the optimization method itself. Through this approach, the team achieved high optimization performance across diverse FPGA designs and took first place overall. This achievement is significant in that it demonstrated the competitiveness of applying AI agent technology, which has recently gained considerable attention, to practical hardware design optimization problems. It also highlights the potential for the convergence of AI and computer system design technologies.

In particular, undergrad students Sookwan Han, Sihun Lim, and Haeun Ji are currently preparing to launch a startup. Drawing on their research and development experience in AI and systems, as well as their achievement in this international competition, they plan to pursue the commercialization of AER’s technology. This accomplishment is also meaningful in that the students’ research achievement is expanding beyond academic success into technology entrepreneurship.

Source: https://ece.snu.ac.kr/ece/news?md=v&bbsidx=58112

Translated by: JungHwan Kim, English Editor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, onzdavid@snu.ac.kr