semiconductor

The semiconductor industry is at the forefront of technological innovation, with rapid advancements in recent years. As a result, the need for high-quality products and technologies has become increasingly important. To address this challenge, SEMI has launched the Quality Benchmarking Consortium (QBC), a new initiative dedicated to advancing quality best practices across the global semiconductor industry. Quality is a fundamental requirement for all semiconductor products and technologies. Over the past decade, state-of-the-art quality practices have evolved significantly to keep pace with rapid innovation and technological advancements. However, new challenges have emerged, including qualifying increasingly complex systems, advanced packaging and 2.5/3D integrated systems, and the growing role of AI/ML in manufacturing. Company-to-company benchmarking is a powerful tool for enhancing quality practices. By sharing information, input, and feedback, companies can establish best-known methods (BKMs) to elevate quality best practices across the entire industry. This approach can save time and money, while also driving innovation and improvement. The QBC is open to multinational corporations, including device manufacturers, fabless device makers, and foundries, that ship over 100 million units per year and have a high-caliber quality organization. The consortium operates on a "Give-to-Get" philosophy, requiring members to actively participate in discussions and activities. Permitted topics for discussion include working processes, management systems, approaches, and KPIs, driven by global customer trends or internal development. However, off-limit topics include IP and patent-protected quality technical solutions embedded in technologies, packages, design, testing, and software.Figure 1: (From Right to Left) - Georg Talut (Global Foundries), JensLuepke (Infineon), Rutger Wijburg (Infineon), Roberto Lissoni (ST Microelectronics), Marcus Richter (Bosch), Bill Lechten (Micron), Georg Georgakos (Infineon) Mark da Silva (SEMI)The first in-person consortium meeting was hosted by Infineon at its Campeon campus in Munich, Germany, and brought together representatives from Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Bosch, GlobalFoundries, and Micron. The event commenced with a warm welcome from Jens Luepke, Senior Director of Quality Management at Infineon, who introduced the company's global operations, history, and employee support initiatives. Rutger Wijburg, COO at Infineon, outlined the company's strategic focus on decarbonization, digitalization, and revenue growth across key business segments. He shared Infineon's investments in new facilities and emphasized the critical role of quality management in navigating industry challenges such as accelerated qualification cycles, increasing product complexity, and mounting cost pressures. Wijburg encouraged participants to leverage insights from the consortium to enhance quality processes within their own organizations and deliver greater value to customers. In preparation for the first in-person meeting, consortium members were organized into three teams, each addressing a core area of quality management: Design Quality (Robustness), (Quality) Organization Structure and Supplier Quality Management.The Design Quality session at the QBC focused on integrating design quality into the New Product Introduction (NPI) process, covering topics such as accountability, quality metrics, and bug tracking systems. Subject matter experts shared strategies on design quality methodologies, metrics, and verification processes, including the use of generative AI. The Organization Structure session shared existing quality organizational structures and management strategies, including reporting lines, functional responsibilities, and employee training programs. The Supplier Quality Management session addressed procurement practices, inventory management, and supplier qualification, with companies sharing best practices for mitigating material fluctuations and advancing sustainable procurement. Overall, the sessions aimed to share knowledge and best practices to improve design quality, organizational structure, and supplier quality management in the semiconductor industry.The meeting concluded with formal nomination of Roberto Lissoni (STM) and Jens Luepke (Infineon) as QBC co-chairs. The meeting wrapped up with a call to action: Expanding the consortium, planning the next in-person meeting (targeted July’25), and amplifying industry engagement. We're excited to welcome new members to the Quality Benchmarking Consortium! If you're interested in joining the conversation, contact Mark da Silva ([email protected]) or Sarah Shen ([email protected]) to learn more.Sarah Shen is Senior Coordinator, MEMS Sensors Industry Group at SEMI.

Last week, SEMI joined a coalition of business groups in calling for Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative, to enact an exclusion process for the most recent tranche of tariffs on $200 billion in goods imported from China. While an exclusion process was provided for in the previous tariff lists, which cover about $50 billion in goods, the administration has said that no similar process will be provided on the most recent tariffs on $200 billion (List 3), which took effect Monday. SEMI members will face millions of dollars in additional duties as a result of these tariffs. This action will also curb growth, stifle innovation, and introduce significant uncertainty in the semiconductor industry. Americans for Free Trade is a diverse coalition, which includes hundreds of companies across the United States, to illustrate the impacts of tariffs on American businesses, consumers and manufacturers. SEMI is a member of this coalition. The full text of the letter can be found here. Any SEMI members with questions should contact Jay Chittooran, Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

Last week, more than a dozen senior semiconductor executives traveled to Washington, DC for the first-ever Fall Washington Forum. The SEMI Washington Forum, a venue for SEMI members to educate lawmakers about the industry, focused on action against China, both in the form of tariffs and export controls.Our industry is global, and companies rely heavily on trade. In 2017, more than 90 percent of equipment made in the United States was exported. Because of this dynamic, the United States holds a nearly $9 billion trade surplus in this industry. SEMI supports trade policies that open foreign markets. In the meetings, the executives expressed deep concern that the tariffs would inflict deep damage to the U.S. economy, including to SEMI members. Estimates suggest that the Sec. 301 tariffs (and the Chinese retaliatory tariffs) will cost semiconductor companies more than $700 million annually, dramatically increasing the cost of doing business. These tariffs also threaten U.S. technological leadership. The United States has led innovation for decades. However, by pursuing policies that limit market access opportunities, company-led R D and innovation will slow, which, in turn, will curb further export potential. SEMI companies also stressed that because of the blunt application of these tariffs, this action will actually hurt U.S. companies as much as it hurts their Chinese competitors. Indeed, about 40 percent of imports in our sector from China are from U.S. or other non-Chinese companies. Further, the semiconductor industry relies on a vast network of supply chains, which have been built and qualified over the course of years. A fundamental revamp of supply chains is simply not feasible. This would be expensive, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. With a growing number of policy issues that are central to and could have significant impact for semiconductor companies, SEMI hosted its first ever Fall Washington Forum for members of its North American Advisory Board (NAAB). SEMI also invited several other industry executives. In total, 14 senior industry executives, including representatives from equipment manufacturers, component suppliers, and materials providers, attended the Fall ForumDuring the two days of meetings, SEMI met with several senior Administration officials to better the policies being enacted and considered as well as encourage all parties to not impose barriers to commerce, which would severely impact the semiconductor industry. SEMI also met with Members of Congress and their staffs on this issue. All told, attendees at the Fall Forum had more than 15 meetings with policymakers, reflecting the great impact of public policy on SEMI members companies. At a time when the stakes for the industry could not be higher, direct engagement with lawmakers is critical. The Washington Forum offers an incredible opportunity for members to better understand the impact of key public policy issues and gain firsthand experience in influencing policy and helping lawmakers better understand the industry.If you are interested in learning more about the SEMI Washington Forum or SEMI’s public policy program, please contact Jay Chittooran by email at [email protected].

In testimony today before a U.S. government interagency panel considering tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, SEMI called for the removal of nearly 100 tariff lines, all of which cover items critical to the semiconductor manufacturing process, including materials and machines.Jonathan Davis, global vice president of advocacy at SEMI, explained in his testimony that while SEMI strongly supports efforts to better protect valuable intellectual property (IP), tariffs will not help address Chinese trade practices, and will ultimately have significant and unintended consequences. SEMI asserts that these tariffs will harm companies in the semiconductor supply chain by increasing business costs, introducing uncertainty, and stifling innovation. Collectively, SEMI estimates that this round of tariffs will cost its 400 U.S. members more than tens of millions annually in additional duties. All told, SEMI estimates that all U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs will cost members nearly $700 million in annual duties. SEMI’s full written comments note that these tariffs, on top of those already in force and the retaliatory tariffs, will hamstring the industry. The tariffs seem to target U.S. firms for simply operating in China. Given that tools and materials are extremely complex, precise, and difficult to manufacture, it is unreasonable to believe that a constituent component can simply be replaced with a part from another source. Further, this U.S. government approach does not take into account that many items subject to these tariffs are not available, at sufficient quality and cost, from domestic sources, or even non-Chinese sources. We stand steadfast in our belief that this trade action will raise prices, put thousands of high-paying and high skill jobs at risk, and curb growth.Over the past four months, SEMI submitted written comments and offered testimony on the two previous rounds of tariffs, citing the damaging impact tariffs would have on the U.S. semiconductor industry. The first round of tariffs – on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods – took effect July 6, and the second round – targeting $16 billion in Chinese imports – will be imposed on August 23. The tariffs hit machines and tools central to the semiconductor industry, including equipment used to manufacture wafers, boules, and chips as well as test, inspection and sensing equipment. We urge SEMI members to review the $200 billion U.S. tariff list to determine the level, if any, of impact. We also strongly encourage members to review Chinese retaliatory lists as well. Any SEMI members with questions should contact Jay Chittooran, Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

U.S.-China Trade War Heats UpThe U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday released a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in imports from China, including 29 tariff lines that represent the heart of the semiconductor industry. These tariff lines include semiconductor products such as machines and spare parts used to make, wafers, flat panel displays, masks and chips, and will cost SEMI’s 400 U.S. members an estimated more than $500 million annually in additional duties.SEMI, along with hundreds of companies, including Lam Research and KLA-Tencor, submitted written comments, requesting the removal of tariff lines from the proposed list. SEMI also testified on behalf of the semiconductor industry, joining more than 80 other companies, including Applied Materials, in opposing the duties before an U.S. government interagency panel in late July.This trade action is on top of the already imposed $34 billion U.S. tariff list, which will cost SEMI’s U.S. members tens of millions of dollars annually. In the coming days, USTR will publish details on how U.S. companies can request the exclusion of products from the $16 billion tariff list, much as it did for the first round of $34 billion.In a swift retaliation, China announced a 25 percent tariff on $16 billion in U.S. exports, including products vital to semiconductor manufacturing such as chemicals, test equipment and other parts. Both U.S. and China tariffs will take effect on August 23.The new tariffs come as China considers tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. imports, and the U.S. weighs additional duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports – a wave that would inflict even deeper damage on the U.S. semiconductor industry. This latest round of U.S. tariffs would cover goods used in microelectronics manufacturing, including chemicals, glass products and spare parts. SEMI will testify against the $200 billion tariff list later this month. If your company expects to be impacted by the proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods, please contact SEMI staff.SEMI stands firm in its belief that none of the tariffs address U.S. concerns over China’s trade practices. Instead, they harm companies in the semiconductor supply chain by increasing business costs, introducing uncertainty and stifling innovation. SEMI will continue to engage with policymakers as both the U.S. and China $16 billion tariff lists are implemented. We will also be evaluating the products covered by the $200 billion U.S. list and the $60 billion Chinese list as both are further considered. We encourage members to review these lists to determine impact on their companies. For more information, please contact Jay Chittooran, Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

The march to greater precision, efficiency and safety – the lifeblood of high-technology manufacturing facilities – has taken on a new urgency as emerging applications such artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 give new meaning to smart factories. Facing fiercer competition and ever more sophisticated fabrication processes, semiconductor fabs are under intense pressure to keep pace with new technologies as they work to upgrade. Nowhere are the stakes higher than in Taiwan, where high-tech manufacturing contributes mightily to the region’s GDP growth. To help Taiwan fabs confront the challenges and opportunities of designing smarter factories, SEMI and its High-Tech Facility Committee hosted the High-Tech Facility Workshop in June. SEMICON Taiwan 2018 High-Tech Facility Pavilion exhibitors gathered to explore how they can build smarter factories by deploying smart surveillance and disaster prevention technologies along with smart communications systems that better use manufacturing data to drive new safety and product quality efficiencies.During the workshop, SEMI High-Tech Facility Committee representatives shared strides it has made upgrading overseas facilities and developing standards to help establish smart factories in Taiwan.SEMICON Taiwan – 5-7 September at Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center – is also an important event for advancing smart manufacturing in Taiwan. Nearly 30 leading global manufacturers will exhibit at the SEMICON Taiwan High-Tech Facility Pavilion. The venue covers operational aspects of semiconductor manufacturing vital to becoming smarter including energy savings, nano-contamination control, facility information modeling, precision instrumentation and control, fire protection, mechatronics, and automation control. The pavilion will also feature a series of theme events offering a comprehensive overview of topics including the latest practices for integrating smart facility capabilities from the perspective of an advanced fab designer.At the TechXPOT stage, High-Tech Facility Pavilion exhibitors will also demonstrate the latest technology breakthroughs and cutting-edge smart factor solutions.The September 6th High-Tech Facility International Forum at SEMICON Taiwan will again gather factory experts and thought leaders from industry and academia to examine “Effective Ways to Make a Facility Smart.“ Experts from industry heavyweights in the fields of wafer foundry, LCD, memory and semiconductor packaging including TSMC, UMC, Innolux, ASE, Micron Taiwan, Winbond and VIS will offer insights into key areas of high-tech facilities including facility electricity, machinery, water management, vaporization and automation systems. On the same day as the forum, the High-Tech Facility Get-Together and High-Tech Facility VIP Dinner will bring together industry elites, academic professionals, and government officials to explore partnership opportunities. SEMI Taiwan and the High-Tech Facility Committee share HTF market trends information, technology updates and standards with SEMI members and exhibitors. Founded in 2013, the High-Tech Facility Committee now has 85 corporate members. Dedicated to accelerating industry collaboration through the integration of Taiwan industrial, government and academic resources, the committee each year holds several group meetings focusing on topics including energy savings, earthquake and fire protection, nano-contamination control, and precision instrumentation and control to advance critical technologies and facilitate standardization. The committee also aims to help the industry become more competitive faster by promoting technology standards that boost productivity and reduce production costs.Please visit www.semi.org and www.semicontaiwan.org for more information about SEMI’s high-tech facility initiatives.Iris Tsou is a marketing specialist at SEMI Taiwan.

Two months after opposing $34 billion in U.S. trade tariffs on behalf of the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing industry, Jonathan Davis, global vice president of industry advocacy at SEMI, this week spoke out against an additional $16 billion in duties on Chinese goods. Testifying before the same U.S. interagency panel mulling the tariffs, Davis called for the removal of 29 tariff lines covering items critical to semiconductor manufacturing including machines and spare parts used to make, wafers, flat panel displays and masks.In his testimony to the panel, Davis stressed that while SEMI supports stronger protections against the theft of valuable intellectual property (IP), tariffs do little to address U.S. concerns over IP loss. Over the past month, SEMI has also submitted written comments and opposed the tariffs in public testimony. The panel includes representatives from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Departments of Treasury, Commerce, State and Defense, and the Council of Economic Advisers.Also testifying, Joe Pon, corporate vice president at Applied Materials, explained that the proposed tariffs will harm small and midsized companies and other U.S. business interests. Describing the tariffs as a tax on exports of high-value U.S. goods, Pon said the duties give non-U.S. firms an unfair competitive advantage.In a parallel push to Davis’s testimony, SEMI, with more than 10 representatives from six member companies, met with 16 congressional offices this week to underscore the damage the tariffs would wreak on the U.S. semiconductor industry. The fallout would include higher operating costs, fewer exports and slower innovation. The tariffs would also curb industry growth and put thousands of high-paying, high-skill jobs at risk. SEMI pressed congressional leaders to reject the tariffs and support a push for congress to re-assert itself on trade policy.Tariffs to Cost U.S. SEMI Members More than $500 MillionSEMI estimates that the second list of proposed tariffs, covering about $16 billion in Chinese goods, will cost its 400 U.S. members more than $500 million annually in additional duties.The tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods, which took effect July 6, impact products such as test and inspection equipment as well as spare parts that enter the U.S. from China. That round of tariffs will cost SEMI member companies and estimated tens of millions of dollars annually. SEMI Public Policy Team Asks Members to Review Tariff ListLooking ahead, SEMI encourages members to review the newly released $200 billion tariff list, determine any impact to their businesses and share their findings with SEMI’s public policy team.The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has published the exclusion process for products subject to the China 301 tariffs. If your company’s products are subject to tariffs, you can request an exclusion.In evaluating product exclusion requests, the USTR will consider whether a product is available from a source outside of China, whether the additional duties would cause severe economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests, and whether the product is strategically important or related to Chinese industrial programs (such as “Made in China 2025”).The deadline for submitting product exclusion requests to USTR is October 9, 2018. Approved exclusions will be effective for one year upon approval and retroactive to July 6, 2018.More information including the process for submitting the product exclusion request can be found here.Any SEMI members with questions should contact Jay Chittooran, Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

Standing-room only keynote speeches. A future awash in data amassed by transformative technologies and applications, with semiconductors at their core. Smart everything: Cars, medicine, manufacturing, workforce, you name it. The sheer numbers impressed as a record lineup of SEMICON West keynote speakers offered a glowing portrait of the future: The semiconductor industry stands on the cusp of a breakout expansion. Standing and seated shoulder-to-shoulder in the packed-to-gills opening keynote, the audience learned, indeed, that the best was yet to come: “This is the best SEMICON West, ever,” observed SEMI CEO Ajit Manocha. Here’s a glimpse of the keynotes by the numbers, starting with the luckiest of all. 7 – The number of keynotes – among the brightest lights in technology – sharing their visions of the future through the lens of breakthrough technologies that are nearly ready to make their indelible mark. Dozens of expert panelists also weighed in at SEMICON West, the annual U.S. flagship microelectronics gathering in San Francisco. 90 – The percentage of all data ever generated has been created in just the past two years as the cloud mushrooms with tweets, texts, emails, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, medical records and all manner of business information, noted Bill Bottoms, president and CEO of Third Millennium Test Solutions. In the years ahead, an almost unimaginable wealth of data will require analysis by artificial intelligence (AI) embedded in semiconductors to enable applications that go well beyond smart. 12-18 – That’s how many months it will take for data volume to double, predicted John Kelly III, IBM’s Senior VP, Cognitive Solutions. And it will double again and again, every 12-18 months. Kelly foresees a scale of growth “that will dwarf previous eras of computing … the number of opportunities is enormous.” Kelly’s four decades in computing gave considerable weight to his point that “in the industry, there has never been a more exciting point in time than today.” First – Technology is being re-born. Using baseball lingo, several speakers noted that we are just in “the first inning,” “the top half of the first inning” or “the beginning of the first inning” to make clear in the most emphatic terms the duration of prosperity that lies ahead for the industry. AI embedded in chips and demand for real-time analysis of AI data will be its fuel. As SEMI Americas president Dave Anderson observed with a smile, “We all know how long baseball games can go.” Third – That’s the current wave of machine learning the world is now experiencing, according to Sandia National Laboratories’ Principal Member Conrad James. Computers are now capable of solving many increasingly complex problems on their own, with no human intervention necessarily required, he said. 1000x – As spectacularly fast as computing power already is today, the industry will need to double that the rate of performance in the years ahead, predicted Applied Materials president and CEO Gary Dickerson. Demand for this herculean processing capacity will spur a “tremendous focus on innovation” among SEMI members, their customers and their customers’ customers. 5 to 15 – The remarkable amount of silicon that power today’s mobile devices will be overshadowed by the chips – equivalent in computing capacity to 5 to 15 cell phones – that will be the engine of self-driving and other features in future automobiles, predicted Pierre Ferragu, New Street Research Managing Partner, during the SEMI Bulls and Bears session. Automobiles with this souped-up computing capacity will sell in the millions worldwide in the years ahead, generating never-before-seen opportunities for the chip industry, he noted. 10,000 – It’s not just cars. Ten thousand is the number of sensors that will be built just into the wings of new Airbus A380-1000 aircraft, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster explained during his keynote. 10 terabits – The staggering amount of Facebook data uploaded daily in to the cloud, Papermaster noted. 1 Trillion – SEMI’s 2020 forecast that the industry will reach $500 billion in revenues by 2020 was eclipsed by one analyst, speaking at the SEMI Market Symposium on the first day of the event, predicted that the industry would top $1 trillion in the foreseeable future. SEMI’s Manocha later added that $1 trillion in industry revenue is possible by 2030, “maybe sooner.” 1 (sexy) coda – Coders are hip and software applications are the apple of the world’s eye. Even the most casual mobile device user knows that software apps makes it whirl. But “hardware is becoming sexy again,” said Applied Materials’ Dickerson, adding that equipment and other semiconductor hardware developed by SEMI members will enable the next great wave of global economic growth. Scott Stevens, SEMI

White House-led panel to address U.S. goal to lead in development of next-generation microelectronicsSEMICON West next week will host a White House-led discussion of the anticipated national leadership strategy for semiconductors, a multi-agency initiative led by top U.S. government national security and economic organizations.Next Wednesday, July 11, a panel of U.S. officials representing agencies involved in leading the strategy will address federal research and development (R D), investment and acquisition priorities aimed at ensuring the U.S. remains the global leader in the semiconductor industry.As global economic trends and technologies such as artificial intelligence evolve, and foreign governments increasingly lure microelectronics manufacturing investments overseas, the U.S. strategy for manufacturing advanced semiconductors and driving research and development (R D) in technology innovation has become an economic priority.The White House selected SEMICON West, organized by SEMI, as the site for the discussion and this urgent call to action because of the event’s central role in bringing together critical industries across the global electronics supply chain. The multi-agency panel will outline activities and new policies under development to ensure U.S. strategic leadership in microelectronics, including focused investment in innovations key to the next generation of devices for commercial and government use. The initiative also includes public-private partnerships to accelerate the capabilities of advanced semiconductors for critical applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, secure communications, the internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics.MEDIA WHO WISH TO ATTEND MUST CONTACT IN ADVANCE SCOTT STEVENS AT +1.512.288.4050 TO OBTAIN ACCESS BADGES PANEL: National Strategy for Semiconductor and Microelectronic Innovation TIME AND DATE: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, July 11 LOCATION: Yerba Buena Theater, 700 Howard St., San Francisco MODERATOR: Dr. Lloyd Whitman, Principal Assistant Director, Physical Sciences and Engineering, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy PANELISTS: Dr. Sankar Basu, Program Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation Dr. Eric W. Forsythe, Flexible Electronics Team Leader, U.S. Army Research Laboratory Dr. Jeremy Muldavin, Deputy Director of Defense Software Microelectronics Activities, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering Dr. Robinson Pino, Acting Research Division Director, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Office of Science, Department of Energy SEMICON West is organized by SEMI Americas to connect more than 2,000 member companies and 1.3 million professionals worldwide to advance the technology and business of electronics manufacturing. SEMICON West is celebrating its 47th year as the flagship event for the semiconductor industry. Find more at www.semiconwest.org.MEDIA CONTACTS:Mike Hall, SEMI Global, +1.408.943.7988Scott Stevens, for SEMI Americas, +1.512.288.4050

Strong global semiconductor industry growth is helping power rapid expansion of China’s IC manufacturers in 2018, and continuing technology innovation is inspiring the region’s optimism over the long term, said Du Shanshan, senior analyst of SEMI China, at the recent SEMI China Member Day. The chief driving force behind this year’s growth of China’s IC industry is its equipment and materials market, with the sector riding a wave of a strengthening industrial infrastructure, a rapid increase of wafer manufacturing capacity, global leadership in new fab projects and large memory investments, Shanshan added. NAURA, a leading domestic provider of high-end IC equipment, is seeing robust growth after its push to recruit highly skilled talent and bolster its technology infrastructure, customer service system and supply chain, said Zhou Yang, vice president of Procurement at NAURA, which hosted the event. Yang said the key to NAURA’s success has been its unblinking focus on technology, product quality, fast product delivery, responsiveness to customer needs, cost controls, and environmental and social responsibility. Before visiting a NAURA factory, attendees reflected on how China’s IC manufacturers, using equipment and materials sourced domestically, seized the opportunity of global semiconductor growth to drive rapid local expansion. Excited about the growth potential of China's chip industry, members expressed their commitment to contributing to its independence and self-reliance. SEMI China Membership Grows Opening SEMI China Member Day, SEMI China president Lung Chu highlighted another expansion – SEMI China’s membership growth to nearly 400 companies, behind only the U.S. and Japan. Chu credited the increase, in part, to the steady growth of the global semiconductor industry. Chu said the increase also stems from the recognition that SEMI China is the China semiconductor industry’s best partner for fulfilling its ambition of becoming a more prominent player on the world stage. SEMI China’s member services platform that includes exhibitions and conferences, industry technical standards, industry research and analysis, a publicity apparatus and a talent development initiative provides powerful ways for the industry to Connect, Collaborate and Innovate. The platform enabled SEMICON China 2018 to set a booth and visitor record for the event, with attendees numbering 91,252, a highly successful 32 percent year-over-year growth. More than 50 SEMI member companies attended the 2018 SEMI China Member Day on June 6th in Beijing to explore opportunities for the global and Chinese semiconductor industry. Cherry Sun is a marketing manager at SEMI China.