What should I expect in C++ interviews for chip/semiconductor companies, especially HPC/GPU roles?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice from people who have interviewed for C++ roles, especially at chip/semiconductor companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Apple, etc.

I graduated in Dec 2025 and I’m mainly targeting C++ roles in areas related to HPC, GPU programming, systems, compilers, performance, or low-level libraries. I’d say I’m not a beginner in C++, but also not an expert yet. I’m currently improving by contributing to open-source C++ codebases and studying more deeply.

I’ve been finding it hard to even get interviews in the C++ domain, so I’m trying to understand what I should focus on more seriously.

From what I understand, chip/semiconductor companies may not interview exactly like typical LeetCode-heavy software companies. I’m assuming there may be more focus on C++, systems knowledge, memory, concurrency, debugging, performance, templates, or real-world code understanding — but I’m not fully sure.

For people who have gone through these interviews, what do C++ interviews for these kinds of companies usually look like?

Do they focus more on:

Modern C++ language details?
Templates / metaprogramming?
STL and standard library internals?
Data structures and algorithms / LeetCode?
OS, memory, concurrency, multithreading?
CUDA / GPU / HPC concepts?
Debugging and performance optimization?
Real-world code review style questions?

Also, if my specific interest is HPC / GPU / performance-oriented C++, what should I expect in interviews and what should I prioritize learning?

Any guidance, interview experiences, or roadmap suggestions would be really appreciated.

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