[zoenolan]

This was about 20 years ago, things maybe different now.

I got hired on the architecture side for GPU's after working a few years. My academic background was computer graphics with a focus on parallel algorithms and performance optimisation. After a couple of years working mostly on low level code, C/C++ and assembly. I got a call from a recruiter.

The semiconductor industry is larger than just Intel and AMD. Like any job, taking some time to look around the career pages should give you a good idea what skills they are interested in.

https://www.nand2tetris.org/ is a nice introduction to the how processors are put together. Book wise Hennessy and Patterson's books, Computer Organization and Design and Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach are good for background. I never did much on the layout side but learning Verilog and/or VHDL would be helpful but not essential.