semiconductor industry

As a top semiconductor manufacturing hub, Korea is poised to lead the world in fab construction spending in 2019 and 2020, accounting for 27 percent of the total market. Little wonder that Korea’s prowess in the semiconductor industry has meant steady membership growth for SEMI Korea, with HD Cho, president of SEMI Korea, putting the average annual jump at about 7 percent.But HD Cho’s focus as he returned to COEX in Seoul, home to SEMICON Korea, in late August was not on membership growth over the years but the future. Cho hosted about 400 SEMI members gathered at SEMI Korea Members Day for insights into the state of the world economy, semiconductor industry outlooks, and perspectives on how South Korean and European microelectronics companies can form stronger ties. Setting the stage with look at macroeconomics, Byung-yeon Kim, team manager of NH Investment and Securities, predicted that, as the global economy continues to falter, 25 of the 58 major countries this year will cut interest rates in a bid to boost prospects for growth. Historically, the global composite leading indicator (CLI), a bellwether for turning points in the economy, has rebounded after 20 months of decline, he said. While the CLI downtrend is now past the 20-month mark, Kim struck a bullish note, predicting that the global economy will bounce back before long.Soo-kyoum Kim, vice president at IDC, referring to the semiconductor industry’s own soft patch, said that total revenue is expected to drop from $475 billion in 2018 to $440 billion this year but should rebound to a new high of $500 billion in 2023. The memory market will be especially hard-hit, dropping more than 29 percent in 2019 and another 14 percent next year before bottoming and then staging a recovery in the second half of 2020. The strength of the rebound will hinge on server market demand, he added.Next year will also see rebounds in semiconductor equipment and materials revenue, with growth of 12 percent and 3 percent, respectively, said Clark Tseng, director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI. The increases will follow a 2019 equipment market drop of 18 percent to $53 billion from the previous year while materials this year is expected to remain flat at $52 billion. The semiconductor industry will expand at a modest 2.4 percent this year, jumping to 7.6 percent in 2020, Tseng reported, citing the average growth rate based on data from Gartner, WSTC, IC Insights, VLSI Research and other industry analyst firms. Despite current weak market demand and the ongoing trade war, the long-term outlook for the semiconductor industry remains upbeat, he added.In Europe, semiconductor industry growth continues on the strength of the region’s high strategic importance in the global electronics supply chain, said Laith Altimime, president of SEMI Europe. Fab construction spending in Europe continued to grow in 2018, reaching $300 million, and is expected to hit $1.2 billion in 2019 and $1.6 billion in 2020, with equipment, parts and components driving the surges.To help build stronger ties between European and Korean chip industries, Altimime introduced the SEMI Korea members to SEMI Europe business platforms including SEMICON Europe, the 3D System Summit, ISS Europe, and the MEMS Imaging Sensor Summit. He also encouraged the formation of more business partnerships between companies in the two regions by familiarizing SEMI Korea members with European players in areas such as foundry, MEMS, sensors and wafer manufacturing.And it will be MEMS and sensors that help drive the 4th Industrial Revolution, said Sung-hyuk Kim, a team leader at LG Electronics' Sensor Solution Research Institute. In his presentation Architecting Sensor Solutions for the Next Revolution, he noted that sensors are finding their way into devices where they have never been used before. In household refrigerators, gas sensors help deodorize the inside while distance sensors detect the approach of people. Air conditioners equipped with a camera sensor can pinpoint the location of humans and steer the airflow in their direction. Of course, all these smarts will come in form of data-devouring artificial intelligence (AI), and that data will be generated in massive amounts by MEMS and sensors – placing them at the epicenter of the 4th Industrial Revolution.Jaegwan Shim is a marketing specialist at SEMI Korea.

The future of the semiconductor industry began to blossom recently in Seoul, South Korea as young, innovative minds teased out secrets to electronics manufacturing and their path to enter the industry one day. Twenty-seven middle schoolers gathered in early August at Yonsei University for SEMI High Tech U (HTU), the worldwide SEMI program that introduces students to science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) careers over three days of hands-on activities and experiential learning. Since 2001, HTU has reached some 8,000 students in nine countries.Semiconductor giants including Applied Materials, KLA, Lam Research and Dongjin Semichem were key teachers as representatives from the companies gave theoretical and practical lectures to pique the students’ interest in STEM educations and careers. The speakers, all experts in microelectronics, surveyed microchips and solar cells, mathematical and scientific experimentation, engineering design and the inner workings of semiconductor manufacturing before the students broke off into teams for lessons largely of their own making. Fine-tuning a wooden contraption – a Statapult – to hurl a ball as far as possible might not sound like the stuff of microelectronics, but it drew on the type of problem-solving skills and creativity the students will need to thrive in the semiconductor industry. Student teams made adjustments to the levers of miniature catapults, then tested the throwing power of the devices. After the ball tosses, they reconvened as a class to share lessons in how they calibrated their catapults for a longer tossing distance and ways they could improve the devices’ performance. Students also took tours of two very different semiconductor manufacturing settings – one virtual and the other real. The young learners donned virtual reality headsets for a simulated walk-through of Applied Materials (the tour was sponsored by the company), then slipped on bunny suits for a tour of Yonsei University's BIT micro fab and a close-up look of how semiconductors are made.But it was the ever-popular Human Calculator game that inspired the greatest thrill as students dove deep into technology. During the exercise, they converted numbers into binary and then traced the digits through a series of gates in an electronic circuit, an exercise requiring careful team communication and concentration to generate the right outputs. The students surprised SEMI Korea employees and instructors, and themselves, by completing the exercise with record speed. Their time: less than two seconds.Human resources managers from sponsor companies were on hand to give the middle school students a head start in their careers with lessons in resume writing and career management. In mock interviews, the students honed their interviewing skills. And in meetings with SEMI High Tech U alumni they learned how their predecessors worked their way into semiconductor industry and their focus of study in college.To be sure, the day was rich in details about working in the microelectronics industry. But did it meet the students’ expectations? In a survey before the event, the more than two dozen students, on average, rated their knowledge of microelectronics at 4.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, a score that jumped to 7.7 after completing HTU. Their favorite module? No surprise: Engineering Design. In this exercise, the students designed a carrier for six 12-ounce beverage cans using only decidedly low-tech materials such as strings, rubber bands and wooden boards. Their innovations were studies in high creativity and ingenuity – just the type of imaginations the semiconductor industry needs. SEMI Korea has offered SEMI HTU since 2011. This year, various other career development programs such as semiconductor manufacturing tutorials and mentoring are planned as SEMI Korea continues to sow the seeds of the next generation of industry workers. Jaegwan Shim is a marketing specialist at SEMI Korea.

Like all other SEMICON expositions, SEMICON West last month gathered thousands of people to make business connections and learn about the industry and its opportunities. But the events are also great venues for SEMI’s Global Industry Advocacy team to meet with industry leaders from around the world as well as regional SEMI presidents to discuss policy issues we face in each region and best practices for how to address them. The time was also ripe for us to meet with various advisory groups and advocacy committees to examine current issues.Top on our list at SEMICON West was a discussion with SEMI’s International Board of Directors about the then newly announced actions by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to tighten export controls in trade with Korea. SEMI depends heavily on and is grateful for insights from its International Board, Board of Industry Leaders and various Regional Advisory Boards. They are crucial to our ability to develop and execute industry advocacy strategies that take into account regional idiosyncrasies, geopolitical sensitivities and global supply chain complexities. SEMI is unique in its ability to bring a global perspective to engaging governments around the world in real time. In the case of the trade dispute between Japan and South Korea, we engaged SEMI members in Japan and Korea as we developed our strategy.On the SEMI America’s front, the North American Advisory Board and its Public Policy Committee met at SEMICON West for a spirited discussion on how to best manage our lobbying activities and how regional and U.S. companies should be involved. The committee’s perspectives and guidance will be invaluable as we chart a path forward in these challenging times in global trade.Our Global Industry Advocacy team also continues to build out SEMI Works, SEMI’s comprehensive initiative to develop a talent pipeline and overcome the industry’s longstanding shortage of skilled workers. SEMI Works focuses on stimulating greater interest in STEM careers, aligning STEM course curriculum and industry needs, and connecting students with relevant courses and careers. We are in the process of launching three regional pilot programs that will enable us to develop the SEMI Works business model that we’ll use to scale the program and ensure the initiative is robust and sustainable. At SEMICON West the Global Advocacy team convened regional stakeholders involved in these pilots to share information on opportunities and challenges and to discuss various implementation strategies.At SEMICON West we also facilitated meetings with U.S. government representatives aimed at improving cybersecurity in manufacturing and developing a commercial security model that will strengthen security throughout the supply chain in areas vital to industry growth such as traceability.After nearly 50 years, SEMI still excels in enabling the industry collaborations key to growth and innovation. Collaboration is also a driving force within SEMI Global Industry Advocacy as we continue to work with SEMI members, our various boards and governments around the world to advance the interests of the semiconductor industry.Mike Russo is vice president of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI.

On July 1st, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced updated licensing policies and procedures on the export and transfer of controlled items and their relevant technologies to the Republic of Korea (ROK). METI’s stated purpose for the actions were “in order to ensure appropriate implementation of export control.”In particular, METI will tighten controls on certain items and their relevant technologies as follows: Remove the ROK from its “white list” of trusted partners, limiting the ROK’s preferential treatment for exports Mandate individual licenses for exports of certain chemicals including fluorinated polyimide, photoresist, and hydrogen fluoride – all used in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing – and technology transferred with exports of manufacturing equipment to the ROK. Bulk licenses for the chemicals will no longer be available. METI has indicated that its actions were not intended as punitive, but rather as necessary to ensure proper management of the export control system and the effective tracking of chemicals, materials and technologies that could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Nevertheless, the trade actions are cause for concern as they could have a negative impact on our members operating in Korea and Japan and the global supply chain in general.After the METI announcement, SEMI immediately consulted its International Board of Directors and assembled a global advocacy response team comprised of SEMI member companies and SEMI regional presidents in both Japan and Korea to assess risks to SEMI members operating in both regions and to the industry’s global supply chain. Additionally, SEMI conveyed its concerns to Japan and ROK trade officials, stressing that the semiconductor industry will bear the brunt of the new measures if the trade dispute escalates.SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha said: “We informed both governments of potential impacts of an escalation to SEMI members, their economies and the global supply chain and are encouraging them to resolve their differences. SEMI’s focus is to ensure the global microelectronics supply chain remains strong and intact.”SEMI member companies have stated that METI and the Japan government have provided assurances that trade with the ROK will not be encumbered and that semiconductor companies will see minimal impact regarding export license approvals. To this end, SEMI will continue to engage our members in Korea and Japan, monitor the dispute as it continues to unfold, and facilitate regular meetings between industry and the involved governments to ensure that industry impacts are identified and risks are mitigated. In the event the dispute escalates, SEMI is prepared to take action in accordance with its Global Trade Principles.SEMI released its Global Trade Principles last year to provide guidance to governments around the world in developing policies that benefit both regional economies and the industry. These trade principles are based on SEMI’s four trade pillars of free and fair trade, open markets, supply chain growth, and respect for IP and national security.Member companies negatively impacted by any changes in Japan’s regulatory policies or with any questions should contact their regional SEMI office or Jay Chittooran, Public Policy Manager, SEMI Global Advocacy, at [email protected] Russo is Vice President of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI.

In testimony today before a U.S. government interagency panel considering tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, SEMI called for the removal of about 30 tariff lines, which cover items central to the semiconductor manufacturing process.Mike Russo, vice president of global industry 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 not only companies operating in the U.S., but other companies as well in the semiconductor supply chain by increasing costs, introducing uncertainty, and most problematically, stifling innovation. Collectively, SEMI estimates that this round of tariffs will cost its 430 U.S. members millions annually in additional duties. All told, SEMI estimates that all U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs will cost members nearly $800 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 firms for simply operating in China. Given that tools, materials, and related products are extremely complex, precise, and difficult to manufacture, it is unreasonable to believe that a constituent component can simply be replaced with a part or tool 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.Over the past year, SEMI has submitted written comments and offered testimony on the three previous rounds of tariffs, which covered about $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, or about half of all imports from China. The tariffs hit various components in the electronics manufacturing supply chain critical to the semiconductor industry, including materials and equipment used to manufacture wafers, boules, and chips as well as test, inspection and sensing equipment. We urge SEMI members to review the $300 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, Global Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

Today, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), as part of its Section 301 investigation into China's trade practices, released a list of approximately $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, including a number in the semiconductor supply chain, that would face a tariff of up to a 25 percent. SEMI is working with members to assess the industry impact and will submit written comments and testify against the tariffs at a public hearing scheduled for mid-June.SEMI encourages members to review the new list and determine the level, if any, of impact.Today’s announcement follows last Friday’s tariff hike from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion of imports from China. All told, the U.S. already has levied tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods that include materials and machines critical to semiconductor manufacturing. The expanded list released Monday would impose tariffs on essentially all imports from China. For its part, China has announced retaliatory tariffs, but more are likely coming.SEMI has been steadfast in its opposition to these tariffs and other barriers to global commerce. Over the past year, SEMI has submitted numerous written comments and offered testimony on the damaging impact of tariffs to the semiconductor industry. While SEMI strongly supports efforts to strengthen intellectual property protections, we believe that the tariff increases will do nothing to address concerns over China’s trade practices but, instead, harm companies in the semiconductor supply chain by increasing business costs, introducing uncertainty and stifling innovation.SEMI will continue tracking ongoing trade developments. SEMI members with questions should contact Jay Chittooran, global public policy manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

SEMI is excited to recognize Katie Maloney of Edwards Vacuum as the SEMI Spotlight on Women Honoree for Q1 2019!Spotlight on SEMI Women celebrates the many accomplished women who work in the global microelectronics industry. Nominees in the quarterly spotlight include women who are beacons of knowledge, leaders of organizations and initiatives, hidden heroes and innovators in our industry. They are volunteers, protectors, intellectual disruptors and activists. Learn how you can nominate a woman for Spotlight on SEMI Women.With nearly 20 years in the microelectronics industry, Katie Maloney has always been a leader and agent of change. She launched her career pathway as a student at the University of Notre Dame on an ROTC scholarship. Her passion for science and technology led to a degree in aerospace engineering. After graduation, Katie began her military commission in the United States Navy as a Division Officer and Command Training Manager within the Nuclear Engineering school. Katie ultimately decided she wanted to manage people while continuing to focus on technology as a fundamental aspect of her career. Driven by a vision for her future, Katie worked full-time and attended the University of Central Florida, earning a master’s degree in engineering management. Katie’s leadership continued to shine despite her workload, and during Katie’s commission the U.S. Navy recognized her for multiple accomplishments. Most notably Katie was awarded “Instructor of the Year” for her classroom teaching.Katie’s journey at Edwards Vacuum began 10 years ago as a site manager for its largest customer. Through her strong leadership skills, Katie has made a difference at Edwards Vacuum, exemplified the semiconductor industry skill set, and helped customers meet their goals. The Edwards executive management team has recognized Katie’s creative thinking. After her recent promotion to business line manager responsible for a Global Account team, Katie put her ideas and leadership to work by mobilizing her team to drive significant improvements in EUV development, contract management and team building at Edwards. Katie’s military experience shaped her career, a formative influence that inspired her passion early on to support military veterans by helping them transition from military to civilian life. She understands the valuable skillsets veterans bring to the microelectronics industry and she dedicates time to help them understand how their skills can translate into opportunities.Cristina Sandoval is manager of Workforce Development at SEMI.

Yesterday, President Trump extended the deadline for List 3, which would have raised U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods from China. SEMI welcomes the deadline extension.Over the past three months, the United States and China have engaged in bilateral discussions to address structural issues like intellectual property protection and requirements for the use of joint ventures as well as trade balance concerns. President Trump announced that these talks have yielded significant and substantial progress in all areas. That said, it’s been reported that discussions on structural issues, such as forced technology transfer, have seen limited progress.Certainly, questions remain on the specifics of liberalization, the structure of the agreement and, most notably, enforcement. Any new commitment will be toothless without a firm and binding enforcement mechanism. While the date of the new deadline hasn’t been clarified, we believe that the tariffs won’t be increased before Presidents Trump and Xi meet, which could happen in late March at Mar-a-Lago.List 3 covers a range of items, including a number of consumer goods, but also directly impacts items critical to the semiconductor manufacturing process, including materials and machines. SEMI estimates that all U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs – which 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 – will cost members more than $700 million in annual duties.While SEMI strongly supports stronger protections for 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. The tariffs seem to target U.S. firms for simply operating in China.Given that chips, tools, and materials are extremely complex, precise, and difficult to manufacture, it is not reasonable to believe that any component can easily 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.SEMI will continue monitoring new developments in this area. Any SEMI members with questions should contact Jay Chittooran, Global Public Policy Manager at SEMI, at [email protected].

The more than 53,000 people who flocked to SEMICON Korea last month were treated to a motherlode of insight into the future of the semiconductor industry as 470 companies exhibited innovative technologies in more than 2,000 booths. But the annual event’s most arresting numbers came in keynotes and other presentations pointing to the extraordinary industry growth that lies ahead.“It is no exaggeration to say that 90 percent of the world’s data has been generated in the last few years,” said Jim Feldhan, president of Semico Research. “This explosive growth of data is expected to continue. That's why server shipments will grow by 20.3 percent, or 30 million units, this year alone.”Feldhan said that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be a chief driver of semiconductor industry growth, with IoT expected to be applied in areas as varied as automotive, smart cities, edge computers, finance, architecture, agriculture and healthcare. For its part, artificial intelligence (AI) will start to exercise human-like judgment. Feldhan noted that in many instances in these fields, “it is more accurate to apply AI and vision systems than to rely on traditional decision-making.”Yoon Jong Lee, senior vice president of DB HiTek, predicted that the Internet, AI and 5G will drive market growth. “Looking back over the past 30 years, semiconductor market growth was powered by PCs, the Internet and cell phones, yet last year memory accounted for 35 percent of total semiconductor sales, more than double the figure in 2016,” he said. He predicted that, in 2019, the foundry sector will outstrip the semiconductor market in growth, noting that the average growth rate of the semiconductor industry is expected to be 4.1 percent, compared to 7.1 percent for the foundry market. Clark Tseng, director of SEMI, reported that the strong semiconductor growth in 2018 is unlikely to continue in 2019 due to the decline in memory pricing, as well as mobile and PC demand. “Demand for semiconductors is likely to decline in the first half as the industry is still digesting inventory and rebound in the second,” Tseng said. Semiconductor industry growth headwinds include decreases in high-end smartphone purchases, PC demand and demand for DRAMs for servers in data centers, Tseng said. Declines in economic growth and consumption in China and the U.S.-China trade war will also contribute to a slowdown. However, Tseng noted that, over the long term, technology innovation will continue and that the semiconductor industry’s prospects remain bright.One key innovation will be the elimination of AI’s reliance on Internet connections in the future. In his opening day keynote, Eunsoo Shim, senior vice president at Samsung Electronics, emphasized that AI technology that operates without the Internet in the future is essential. “We are developing 'on-device AI' technology that incorporates AI algorithms in products such as smartphones and autonomous vehicles,” he said. "When on-device AI technology is implemented, it reduces reliance on the Internet, battery consumption, and data latency.” Reducing latency will significantly improve device response time.Walden C. Rhines, CEO Emeritus of Mentor, a Siemens business, predicted that AI will fuel rapid memory growth. The memory semiconductor (DRAM, NAND flash) market is expected to see a temporary slowdown this year, with the market expected to rebound in 2020. Rhines said that memory could be seen as an early market with rapid future growth, citing memory market super-booms in 1995 and 2000.“Memory production has not decreased since 1995 or 2000,” he said. “Although memory prices will temporarily fall this year after significant market growth in 2017 to 2018, the market will continue to grow as memory production increases,” he said. Rhines added that “although memory prices will drop by about 10 percent this year, he believes prices will increase 6 percent next year.” He also predicted the steady growth of the non-memory semiconductor market as AI technology matures and China’s investment in fabless companies continues.Indeed, SEMICON Korea speakers made it clear that concerns about the growth of the semiconductor industry are expected to be short-lived. While overall growth is likely to slow in 2019, the industry is expected to rebound steadily – powered by the semiconductor industry paradigm shift led by AI, IOT, and autonomous driving – and reach a new high of nearly $541 billion in 2020.Jaegwan Shim is a marketing specialist at SEMI Korea.

For public policy lovers, civic-minded, engaged U.S. citizens, and people around the world interested in the U.S. President’s positions and priorities, the annual State of the Union address (SOTU) is “must-see TV.” This year, the anticipation and expectations were different than with past presidents. President Trump is the first U.S. president who has used social media to the extreme that he has. President Trump’s prolific Twitter feed has had an interesting impact on the SOTU. U.S. citizens and people from around the world already know President Trump’s positions on issues, his policy priorities and what gets him excited. There is an ongoing, direct line to the President’s thoughts throughout each and every day. In the past we looked to the SOTU for insights into what the sitting president is really thinking and his future policy priorities. Now, there isn’t much we don’t already know.One looming question this year was whether President Trump would reach out in a conciliatory manner to help bridge the political divide and lay the groundwork to enable some public policy wins and avoid another government shutdown. While there were moments of conciliation, the President made it clear he would not move on areas that are most contentious with the other side of the aisle. For example, the President unequivocally reiterated his intent to build the wall. While the message plays well to his base, it is, in effect, a frontal assault and challenge to Democrats. It’s hard to image that his staunch stance will help move the two parties to work together on substantive policy issues. It may also mean that the wall issue will occupy lawmakers time for the foreseeable future, sidelining debate on other important issues.The best hope is that a bipartisan bill finds its way to the President’s desk that he can sign and use to “declare victory.” However, many political observers believe the likelihood of the President declaring a national security emergency is rising as a maneuver to ensure funding for the wall and avoid a shutdown. While such a declaration would most likely face a court challenge, the President could claim that his decision was a move of last resort and leverage the moment to position Democrats as obstructionists to his base. The scenario does not bode well for the bipartisan support necessary to address other issues.What does this mean for our industry? Were there any points raised in the SOTU that would signal a change in what we are facing regarding trade, tariffs, export controls and immigration? Were any new issues or ideas raised that could help lift the global economy? In short, no. On one hand, the President cited his good relationship with the president of China, but on the other doubled down on his attacks on China, seeming to stand firm to bolster his position at the table as the U.S. and China trade talks continue.What do these dynamics mean for SEMI Global Advocacy? In 2018 we were heavily engaged in efforts to prevent regulations that would inhibit our members' ability to develop and deploy technologies and maintain global market access. We advanced our global advocacy model, leveraging our regional presence around the world. Many of the potential issues we faced emanated from the U.S., including those focused on controlling technology development, limiting trade and enhancing export controls. We also intensified our efforts to address industry talent pipeline issues.In 2019, our public policy focus will be to continue to push back on tariffs, engage members to inform the rule-making process for export controls and to attempt to influence the immigration debate as it pertains to access to talent. In addition, while the U.S. R D tax credit was made permanent through the tax cut in 2017, some of the provisions may have unintended consequences and will need to be modified. How the law is enacted will affect how businesses can deduct qualified research and development and other expenses from their taxable income, so we anticipate activity on the tax front as well.It will also be a big year for SEMI on the workforce development front. SEMI will continue to grow its existing High Tech U (HTU), university and mentor programs. In addition, SEMI will be positioning itself as the global leader in addressing issues related to the talent pipeline by approaching the problem with a full-spectrum, holistic approach that is intended to better address more immediate needs in attracting, training and retaining qualified talent. We’ll also focus on improving the industry image and exciting students at a younger age by providing experiential learning activities throughout a defined educational pathway. Stay tuned on this front as the full program unfolds.In general, we will continue to build our relationships and stature as a leading voice for our members and the end-to-end semiconductor supply chain in the areas of talent, trade, tax and technology (SEMI’s “4 Ts”) and to ensure free and fair trade, access to markets, supply chain growth, IP protections and enhanced efforts to improve cybersecurity. Mike Russo is VP of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI.