Intel

Companies around the world are increasingly turning to mergers and acquisitions, research and development, and corporate venture capital (CVC) investment to sustain growth. For many years, global semiconductor companies including Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung have been active CVC investors. However, the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many venture capital (VC) and CVC investors to rethink their investment strategies as they look to an uncertain future. To help provide SEMI members with the latest market trend information, SEMI Taiwan held the webinar Challenges and Opportunities in Corporate Venturing during the Global Pandemic Crisis on April 28th. Featured speaker James Mawson, founder and editor in chief of Global Corporate Venturing, provided an analysis of the pandemic’s impact on deal flow, capital movement, sentiment and strategies among CVCs. CVC takes larger role in past decadeCorporations have been increasingly active direct and indirect venture investors over the past decade. From 2011-2019, more than US$1.3 trillion of venture capital was invested globally, with corporations accounting for more than half that total, according to data from Pitchbook/GCV Analytics.Semiconductor companies that have been active in corporate venturing include Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, ARM, AMD, SK Hynix, Broadcom and Qualcomm. Pure-play semiconductor and chip companies tend to make few investments in their start-up counterparts because sector saturation of powerful incumbents leaves little opportunity for growth, James said. “While it is hard to find entrepreneurs wanting to be engaged in pure play S C, once they do, they can be very valuable and often be able to bring disruptive forces to the whole ecosystem,” James said.S C corporate investors focus on chip applicationsSemiconductor companies looking beyond pure-play S C start-ups for investment opportunities often target applications or developers that require the additional data, processing power, and memory their chips provide. “There is lots of interest by the big chip companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Samsung in developing some of those chip applications, getting them used more and creating a whole ecosystem,” James said.For example, Intel Capital, based on its data-centric theme, has focused on areas like autonomous vehicles, data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) because of the sheer amount of data and processing power they require. In another notable trend, non-traditional S C players such as Apple and Alibaba are leveraging investments in start-ups to develop their own chips for competitive advantage, James said.March deal flow down 20% With COVID-19 slowing the global economy, James expects semiconductor and chip companies to scale back direct investments this year due to rising pressure on their balance sheets. Deal flow in March was down roughly 20% from February.James is hopeful corporates will focus on investing in innovation over the long term rather than target share buybacks to boost near-term earnings. James pointed out that investors can uncover opportunities by identifying future problems to be solved in areas such as quantum computing, biotech, energy, healthcare, communications and ICT. Still, in the near term, where there is a crisis, there is opportunity. While the pandemic hit some sectors hard, it benefits start-ups in industries including gaming, education and telemedicine. This time is different?James said corporates need to rethink the investment model they want to follow. One option is the approach taken by General Electric, which divested its investment team and sold all its portfolio companies last year. Another is to focus on the long term. For example, Intel Capital has been dedicated to investments in innovation for nearly 30 years and continues to invest during downturns.Compared with the internet bubble and global financial crisis, today there are more experienced and mature CVCs that better know how to negotiate a crisis. James also pointed out investors are interested in backing CVCs with sector investing experience. There are now more than 600 CVCs with a 10-year-plus track record.James expects a variety of funding models to emerge over the next decade as pressure on corporate balance sheets encourages corporate investors to consider models that allow third-party capital to effectively leverage their CVC units. Corporate investors are also open to other ways to efficiently deliver financial returns.For more information about the SEMI Taiwan Corporate Growth and Innovation Community, please contact Irene Lin at [email protected]. For GCV’s latest news and event, visit its website.Jo-Ann Su is senior director of the Corporate Growth and Innovation Community at SEMI Taiwan.

This article is the third in a series highlighting the vital importance of SEMI Standards to commemorate the publication of the 1000th SEMI Standard in July 2019. Find the entire series here.SEMI Standards are the bedrock of the modern microelectronics industry. Without standards for wafer dimensions – which SEMI Standards first defined through a collaborative process involving semiconductor manufacturers and wafer suppliers in 1972 – the semiconductor equipment industry as we know it would not exist today. The late Robert Noyce of Intel noted in this 1992 video “being good at producing semiconductors will mean we have better, more consistent, better controlled equipment than we have in the past. Standards are going to play a vital role in that. Standards saves money and time for everyone.” Noyce also called standards a bellwether to surges of innovation in critical process technology. This is still true today as, for example, important standards-setting activity is afoot in panel-level packaging, electron microscopy and energetic materials. Will a surge of innovation follow?Panel-level packaging: a chicken-egg scenarioFrom advanced materials to more efficient production tools, one hallmark of the microelectronics industry is our fearless exploration of new technologies that will spawn change across the industry by improving performance and reducing cost. Advanced packaging techniques, such as panel-level packaging (PLP) – which moves semiconductor packaging to a larger-panel format – is one of those critical catalysts. Citing PLP’s potential to shrink costs by improving efficiency and economies of scale, research firm Yole Développement predicts a remarkable 63% CAGR for PLP from 2017-2023.[i]It’s no stretch to say that we are close to realizing a burst of innovation in packaging. With a just-published SEMI Standard (SEMI 3D20) specifying panel sizes, equipment companies will find it economically viable to invest more in developing the much-needed production tools that enable PLP. “It is really important to create standards so we come together and work much more efficiently. Creating those fundamentals allows you to be more productive in the long term,” said Christina Chu, ASM Semiconductors, and co-leader of the Panel Level Packaging Task Force, and one of five industry leaders recognized for their outstanding accomplishments in developing SEMI Standards for the electronics and related industries at the recent 1000 SEMI Standards reception during SEMICON West 2019. “This effort came up from the trenches,” said Richard Allen, NIST Quantum Measurement Division, and a co-leader of both SEMI’s 3D Packaging and Integration Committee and its Panel Level Packaging Task Force. “Equipment vendors told us that they wanted to serve the market, but they couldn’t do so without some standards. To respond to their request, our committee surveyed the market and discovered at least 15 different panel sizes in development.”“As no vendor is going to make over a dozen unique tools for the same process, we worked with the manufacturers and tool companies to write a specification that standardizes on two of the most widely accepted sizes,” Allen said. “For the first time, the industry will have a real market for panel-level packaging tools, and that will spur commercialization of new technologies that never would have seen the light of the day without standardization.”Allen pointed out that evolution of standards in microelectronics reflects the dynamism of the microelectronics industry itself. “Given the rate of technology advancement in microelectronics, SEMI Standards committee and task force members know that a newly-published standard is often just a starting point, and change will likely follow,” he said. “The Panel Level Packaging Task Force, for example, is currently determining how to best support this packaging technology, whether through possible enhancements to 3D20 or by creating new PLP standards.”Process automation is key for TEMTransmission electron microscopy (TEM) is another area where industry cooperation will fuel progress.“People throw around the phrase ‘exponential growth,’” said James Amano, senior director, International Standards at SEMI. “It’s usually a gross exaggeration, but not when it comes to TEM data. That’s because demand for more TEM data, which uniquely enables innovations around smaller feature sizes, has exploded. At the same time, TEM data is a bottleneck in the fab. Operators literally use tweezers to carry around electron microscope samples by hand, and that is untenable.” TEM sampling standards are currently being formulated under the SEMI Standards development process. “Applying a model that we have employed successfully time and time again through SEMI Standards, we are gearing up for process automation in TEM,” Amano said. “We’ll start by establishing a grid carrier standard for electron microscopy. Through ongoing standards efforts, we may realize a fully automated TEM process within just a few years. That achievement will enable exponential growth in shrinking design geometries.”Energetic materials gain safety standardAlong with wafer-level packaging and design shrinks, the push for safety in materials’ usage is a hotbed of innovation. This is especially true with energetic materials, the potentially hazardous process chemicals used increasingly in semiconductor manufacturing to spur advances in materials purity, integrity and quality.“When you’re working with energetic materials, if you don’t get it right, you may face serious yield and cost issues, and most important of all, safety risks,” said Paul Trio, senior manager of strategic initiatives at SEMI. “This isn’t a theoretical concern. Real problems occurring in fabs have made an energetic-materials standard a high priority for the industry.”“After years of collaborating with companies across the supply chain to address this significant challenge, we recently published our 1000th SEMI Standard around safe usage of energetic materials,” Trio said. “Now manufacturers can turn to a new standard – which will evolve dynamically in response to industry changes – as they employ energetic materials in their quest to achieve higher yields while controlling costs and managing safety risks.” Whether it’s packaging, design shrinks, materials or other key innovations, standards are essential to progress in microelectronics. From equipment and materials suppliers that provide the most advanced, efficient and safest tools, materials, and processes to device manufacturers that get products to market, all stakeholders in the microelectronics ecosystem benefit from SEMI Standards. Are you curious about the areas of process technology where innovations are likely to occur? Would you like to get involved in standards efforts that could have an impact on your business? Take a look at the activity of SEMI Standards Committees and Task Forces. Because that’s where innovation, pragmatism and a commitment to harness industry resources come together.Use your voice to affect standardization in and around the microelectronics industry. Learn about SEMI Standards – and become part of the solution. Heidi Hoffman is senior director of technology communities marketing at SEMI. Hoffman and her team shine a spotlight on the work of the more than 20 technology communities under the SEMI electronics manufacturing supply chain collaboration platform. Actively engaging community members in marketing programs that showcase their unique value, Hoffman’s team helps companies to grow and prosper through the power of connection, collaboration and innovation. [i] Status of Panel Level Packaging report, Yole Développement, 2018

Post-Conference Report: SEMI Heterogeneous Integration SummitDemand for high-performance computing (HPC) chips is exploding. These super-speedy chips are critical for data centers and cloud computing infrastructures to support new performance-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G. The challenge is for the devices and their multi-core architectures to couple high bandwidth density with low latency and high energy efficiency. Heterogenous integration offers a potential answer as an advanced packaging technology designed to meet these skyrocketing performance demands on HPC chips and open the door to a whole new world of 3D integrated circuits (ICs).So important are 3D ICs that Intel and TSMC representatives speaking at the recent Heterogeneous Integration Summit hosted by SEMI Taiwan in Taipei declared that the packaging technology will all but dictate the future of the industry. All told, 12 speakers from government, academia and a broad range of leading international companies from sectors including advanced packaging, design, manufacturing, silicon photonics, equipment and materials shared forward-looking strategies, the latest technologies and potential heterogeneous integration market opportunities. Koushik Banerjee, vice president, TMG, Assembly, and Test Technology Integration, at Intel pointed out that using heterogeneous integration for a single SiP (system-in-package) will deliver what the industry has long wanted by enabling multiple process nodes, more diverse silicon IP (intellectual property) and chip functionality, and chips that pair low energy with high frequency. Intel plans to announce its first Forveros 3D packaging product combining a 10nm HPC chiplet with a low-energy 22nm base die and stacked with memory on top. When asked about the future of advanced packaging technology, Banerjee said it will be very much about the combination of Foveros and its very own Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB).For its part, TSMC, will continue to upgrade its CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate), InFO (Integrated Fan-out) and other 2.5D IC production solutions while developing 3D chip stacking technology such as SoIC and WoW (wafer-on-wafer). TSMC is ushering in a new age of 3D IC packaging, said Marvin Liao, Vice President, Backend Technology and Service Division, at TSMC. The company’s SoIC is based on Chip-on-Wafer concept, with the flexibility to support one-to-many or different process nodes, whereas its WoW integrates two wafers with solid yields that could be used for products of the same size or manufactured with mature process technology.Speakers also included representatives from ATOTECH, Lam Research, SPIL, Sigurd, Cadence, Grand Process Technology, ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Industrial Development Bureau, and Lee San-Liang, Distinguished Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology all shared their perspectives on equipment, materials, and testing and how different industry value chains might contribute to the development of heterogeneous integration technology.Expected to be a key driver of the next wave of semiconductors, heterogeneous integration and related technologies – including 3D IC, FOWLP (Fan-out wafer-level packaging) / FOPLP (Fan-out panel-level packaging), silicon photonics, Micro LED, compound semiconductor, automated optical inspection and SLT (system level testing) – will be a key focus at SEMICON Taiwan 2019, September 18 to 20 in Taipei. The Heterogeneous Integration Innovation Zone – along with featured international programs such as SiP Global Summit, Strategic Materials Conference, the Smart Data Summit and the Smart Automotive Summit – will gather key industry players to reveal the latest technology breakthroughs and market trends.Emmy Yi is a senior marketing specialist at SEMI Taiwan.

Last year the industry posted another remarkable double-digit revenue growth year. IC shipments eclipsed one trillion units for the first time and continued to enable an ever-expanding array of silicon intensive-applications.2018 was also a pivotal year of transformation at SEMI. Setting our sights firmly on building more value for SEMI members, we doubled down on priorities I established this time last year. We advocated intensively on global trade policies, industry talent needs, and critical environment, health and safety (EHS) concerns. To underpin our efforts around talent, we took the bold step to reinvigorate the industry’s identity with a dynamic image campaign. Above all, we targeted critical industry-wide issues to help us realize the ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar industry in the next decade. Workforce DevelopmentRedefining our approach to talent development in 2018 was and remains a top priority. A diverse, highly skilled workforce is crucial to the industry’s ability to innovate. Last year we ramped up a number of SEMI High Tech U (HTU) programs to inspire young people and attract them to careers in high-tech manufacturing. To date, more than 130,000 students have been touched by HTU – through student or teacher programs.Over the past year, we designed a new university outreach program and established partnerships with 100 institutions. We established Workforce Pavilions at SEMICON events in Southeast Asia, the U.S., Taiwan, Europe and Japan for students to explore career opportunities and meet with recruiters. We thrilled at seeing sponsors hire young talent at SEMI events. This year, all SEMICONs worldwide will feature Workforce Pavilions.SEMI also formalized its commitment to Diversity and Inclusion (D I) with the establishment of a D I council to shape new programs including the recently launched Spotlight on SEMI Women. To localize and fully optimize our D I programs, we established regional workforce councils in every region we serve. We unveiled the SEMI Mentoring Program to support students and young professionals on this journey by facilitating one-on-one mentoring relationships with industry professionals. Hundreds of mentees have enrolled. But we still need more mentors. I urge you to join the program. During the year, SEMI also expanded its workforce staff and developed a comprehensive workforce strategy with programs that engage students as early as elementary school and inspires them through high school and college. The program provides pathways to professional careers, building a pipeline to fill the short-term and long-term talent needs of the industry. Industry Image CampaignAs we developed the comprehensive workforce development program, we knew we had to refresh the industry’s image and appeal to the next generation through contemporary media and communications channels. So we recently launched a bold, innovative campaign to raise industry awareness and attract students and recent graduates to careers in semiconductor manufacturing.Our You’re Welcome campaign is a novel, creative approach that blends entertainment, media and storytelling to excite students about the industry. The campaign went viral immediately and within weeks had more than 5.5 million social media impressions and 2.3 million video views.Trade Policy AdvocacyRising trade tensions between the U.S. and China catapulted global trade policy to the forefront of industry concerns in 2018. Since the tariffs have taken force, semiconductor companies have faced higher costs, greater uncertainty, and difficulty selling products abroad. The tariffs have forced many SEMI member companies to pause or rethink their investment strategies.SEMI quickly engaged U.S. policymakers and provided resources for SEMI members. We formed a member trade task force, staged trade compliance seminars in China, and convened meetings with over 110 U.S. congressional, agency and administration officials, and provided testimony on the importance of the free trade to the industry.SEMI continues to educate policymakers about the critical importance of free and fair trade, open markets, and respect and enforcement of IP for all players in the global electronics manufacturing supply chain. As part of this initiative, we distributed “10 Principles for the Global Semiconductor Supply Chain in Modern Trade Agreements” and encouraged their adoption in various trade negotiations. These principles outline the primary considerations for balanced trade rules that benefit SEMI members around the world, strengthen innovation and perpetuate the societal benefits of affordable microelectronics.Environment, Health and SafetyEnvironmental regulations are proliferating globally even as advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology relies increasingly on a host of new materials. With dozens of new fabs and fab line upgrades, our industry must align on best practices, sensibly respond to materials restrictions, and renew efforts toward sustainable manufacturing.That’s why the revitalization of SEMI EHS efforts became another priority in 2018. Two months ago, we hosted the inaugural EHS Summit at SEMI Headquarters. Fully, 70 EHS professionals and company executives met to form the basis for the future SEMI EHS program.The Year AheadDespite a softening in the market, compounded by Apple’s first-ever announcement of a revenue decline in 16 years, a geopolitical whirlwind on trade and an extended shutdown of much of the U.S. government, the future is bright.At SEMI’s annual Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS 2019) in Half Moon Bay, Calif. in early January, the sense of optimism was palpable. In her keynote address, Dr. Ann Kelleher, Sr. VP and General Manager, Technology and Manufacturing Group, at Intel, observed that data is powering the fourth industry revolution and the expansion of compute. With customers expecting continual improvements in applications, Kelleher highlighted the tremendous opportunity for the chip industry to meet these expectations.At ISS 2019, we announced a Memorandum of Understand between SEMI and imec. The MOU will enable us to accelerate our members’ engagement in SEMI’s Smart vertical market platforms, in particular Smart MedTech and Smart Transportation. Our partnership with imec will also allow us to boost SEMI Standards activities in non-CMOS technologies, deepen technology roadmap efforts and augment our SEMI Think Tank initiative in thought leadership at a global level.Over the course of this coming year, will we begin our global rollout of key building blocks of our comprehensive workforce development program to engage schoolchildren as young as 10 and learners all the way to veterans who return to the workforce. We are now able, with the invaluable help of our Workforce Development Council and the passionate engagement of many SEMI member companies, to offer a solution to the talent crisis in our industry.We will continue to be the leading voice for our members and the end-to-end semiconductor supply chain across Talent, Trade, Tax and Technology as we work to ensure free, fair trade that protects IP while preserving vital access to markets to grow the supply chain. Vertical Market PlatformsOur vertical market platforms are an important part of this growth. For example, in Smart MedTech, SEMI looks forward to working with the Nano-Bio Materials Consortium to advance human monitoring technology for telemedicine and digital health after winning $7 million to fund the renewed program. In Smart Transportation, we will leverage the Global Automotive Advisory Council (GAAC) we formed last year to represent the full automotive supply chain and the Smart Transportation and Smart Automotive forums featured at all our SEMICON events to enable the industry to identify and seize opportunities in autonomous driving. At ISS 2019, Sujeet Chand of Rockwell Automation noted that “digitization will grow faster in the next 10 years than it did in the past 50,” a trend calling for semiconductor fab architectures that transform data into business value. We will continue to bring the industry together at our Smart Manufacturing venues to help uncover ways to deploy deep learning, edge computing and other Smart technologies to deliver this value and meet the challenges of automation as artificial intelligence’s (AI) sprawling influence reshapes industries including manufacturing.I am filled with optimism and thrilled about the opportunities I see on the horizon for our members as we build on our 2018 accomplishments to enable your prosperity in 2019 and beyond. My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your participation in our programs and events.I look forward to another successful year as we connect, collaborate and innovate together!Ajit Manocha is president and CEO of SEMI.

This year, SEMI ISS covered it all – from a high-level semiconductor market and global geopolitical overview down to the neuro morphic and quantum level. Here are key takeaways from the Day 1 keynote and Economic Trends and Market Perspectives presentations.In the opening keynote, Anne Kelleher from Intel pointed to the huge growth of data, with fabs collecting more than 5 billion sensor data points each day. The challenge, Kelleher noted, is to turn massive amounts of data into valuable information. Moore’s law is not dead. New models of computing benefit still from Moore’s law and advances in Si/CMOS technologies for conventional, deep learning, neuro morphic and quantum computing.With customers expecting continual improvements in applications, the question is whether the chip industry is moving fast enough to meet these expectations, Kelleher said. A broad supply chain, equipment and materials innovations, and attracting the “best of the best” college graduates to fuel innovation is key, she said.In the economic trends session, Nicholas Burns (ambassador ret.) from Harvard University pointed out that we will see a major shift in power. The U.S. will remain the major world power over the next 10 years, but we will see a major shift in power in the next coming decades as the gap with countries like China, Russia and India continues to narrow.Duncan Meldrum from Hilltop Economics said that we are passing the peak growth of economic cycle. He warns that a more likely outlook is that a global growth recession is developing. Although semiconductor MSI growth will see a noticeable slowdown in 2019 and 2020, the semiconductor industry is still healthy over the longer term.Bob Johnson from Gartner sees demand shifting from consumer to commercial applications with higher ROIs and budgets. AI, IoT and 5D are the major enablers. He sees structural changes in the semiconductor industry especially for memory but also for Moore’s law with increasing costs and fewer players.The DRAM markets shows volatility and NAND market may be negative in 2019 but non-memory are expected to accelerate mainly because of increasing content and some price hikes.Overall Gartner expects good long-term growth with a CAGR (2017 to 2022) of 5.1%, outpacing 2011 to 2016 CAGR of 2.6%. After a strong 2018 with 13.4% revenue, he forecasts a slower 2019 with 2.6% growth followed by a 8% growth in 2020 and negative growth rate in 2021.Andrea Lati of VLSI went “Back to fundamentals” in his presentation about the industry. VLSI sees a downside bias due to slowing global economy, tariffs, and trade wars. Future drivers are data economy, cloud, AI and automotive.As memory leads the 2019 slowdown, analog, power, logic and other sectors remain in positive territory. VLSI lowered its semiconductor equipment forecast for 2018 from 20% (Jan. 2018) to 14% (Dec. 2018) but increased its sales outlook from 8% to 15% in 2018. VLSI expects revenue to slow into the first half of 2019 but increase to over 4% in the second half of the year, resulting in total 2019 drop of 2.7%. Semiconductor equipment sales are expected to drop from 14% in 2018 to -10% in 2019.Michael Corbett of Linz Consulting, covering wafer fab materials in the years of 3D scaling, sees these as good times for the industry. His outlook for wafer fab materials is bullish based on strong MSI and because wafer fab materials suppliers are getting bigger because of M As.In the Market Perspective session, Sujeet Chand of Rockwell Automation pointed out that as more and more data is generated, the problem is how to get value of all the data collected. There is a need to create the right architecture for machine learning and AI and big data is increasingly being replaced by contextual/structured data. He expects Industry 4.0 to drive foundries to become smaller, more flexible and more productive.In the Technology and Manufacturing session, Aki Sekiguchi of TEL addressed process challenges in the age of co-optimization. The semiconductor industry continues to expand, driven by massive growth of interconnected devices, with heavy demand for processing power and storage. He expects an exponential increase of data from about 40ZB in 2018 to 50ZB in 2020 to 163 ZB in 2026.Major technologies such as DRAM, 3D NAND and logic are dealing with scaling challenges. The density of DRAM (Mb/chip) is plateauing according to 2015 to 2020 trend data, with DRAM is in need of EUV. Memory capacity demand is leading to increasing layers and higher aspect ratios that is concern for 3D NAND and mainly for plasma etch. With Logic already implementing 3D structures, it appears to be in a solid position. Buddy Nicoson of Micron talked about his 50 years in the industry and looked ahead to the next 50. The anchors – quality, cost, scale and speed – won’t change. It has been a great journey so far with unprecedented opportunities and challenges ahead of us. We are getting into a convergence (specialization, integration) and solution-based phase. We will see some inflection points in the coming years, with the best yet to come.Christian G. Dieseldorff is senior principal analyst in the Industry Research and Analysis group at SEMI in Milpitas, California.

New SEMI Taiwan Testing Committee to strengthen the last line of defense to ensure the reliability of advanced semiconductor applications.Mobile, high-performance computing (HPC), automotive, and IoT – the four future growth drivers of semiconductor industry, plus the additional boost from artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G – will spur exponential demand for multi-function and high-performance chips. Today, a 3D IC semiconductor structure is beginning to integrate multiple chips to extend functionality and performance, making heterogeneous integration an irreversible trend. As the number of chips integrated in a single package increases, the structural complexity also rises. Not only will this make identifying chip defects harder, but the compatibility and interconnection between components will also introduce uncertainties that can undermine the reliability of the final ICs. Add to these challenges the need for tight cost control and a faster time to market, and it’s clear that semiconductor testing requires disruptive, innovative change. Traditional final-product testing focusing on finished components is now giving way to wafer- and system-level testing.In addition, the traditional notion of design for testing, an approach that enhances testing controllability and observability, is now coupled with the imperative to test for design, which emphasizes drawing analytics insights from collected test data to help reduce design errors and shorten development cycles. Going forward, the relationship among design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing will no longer be un-directional. Instead, it will be a cycle of continuous improvement.This paradigm shift in semiconductor testing, however, will also create a need for new industry standards and regulations, elevate visibility and security levels for shared data, require the optimization of testing time and costs, and lead to a shortage of testing professionals. Solving all these issues will require a joint effort by the industry and academia. "With leading technologies and $4.7 billion in market value, Taiwan still holds the top spot in global semiconductor testing market," said Terry Tsao, President of SEMI Taiwan. "When testing extends beyond the manufacturing process, it can play a critical role in ensuring quality throughout the entire life cycle from design and manufacturing to system integration while maintaining effective controls on development costs and schedules. Taiwan's semiconductor industry is in dire need of a common testing platform to enable the cross-disciplinary collaboration necessary for technical breakthroughs."The SEMI Taiwan Testing Committee was formed to meet that need, gathering testing experts and academics from MediaTek, Intel, NXP Semiconductors, TSMC, UMC, ASE Technology, SPIL, KYEC, Teradyne, Advantest, FormFactor, MJC, Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor, and National Tsing Hua University to collaborate in building a complete testing ecosystem. The committee addresses common technical challenges faced by the industry and cultivates next-generation testing professionals to enable Taiwan to maintain its global leadership in semiconductor testing.The SEMI Taiwan Testing Platform spans communities, expositions, programs, events, networking, business matching, advocacy, and market and technology insights. For more information about the SEMI Taiwan Testing platform, please contact Elaine Lee ([email protected]) or Ana Li ([email protected]). Emmy Yi is a marketing specialist at SEMI Taiwan.

Five young dancers bathed in a striking rainbow of colors with their silhouettes cast in the background dazzled SEMICON Japan 2018 attendees at the opening ceremony in mid-December. Gone were the standard opening keynotes and ribbon cutting, replaced by live performance and media art set against a dramatic black backdrop. There was no mistaking the wide-eyed looks of wonder in the audience.In its sheer vibrance, the opening ceremony thrilled with an excitement that seemed to embody the extraordinary growth expectations for the global semiconductor supply chain over the next five years, with the industry poised to double sales from $2 trillion to a staggering $4 trillion – a phenomena SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha has called The Rebirth of the Semiconductor Industry. Driving this unprecedented growth will be SMART applications that are transforming industries and applications worldwide, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.The dramatic scene at SEMICON Japan 2018 was staged by Rhizomatiks, a media arts company that produced the Rio Olympic Games closing ceremony and is famous for its pop music spectacles. The company’s CTO, Motoi Ishibashi, the event’s first keynote speaker, described his team’s development of drones and vehicles guided by motion and precision-control technologies. It was some of these SMART vehicles that maneuvered the opening ceremony performers from the dance company Elevenplay onstage. Only Rhizomatiks, Ishibashi said, has this capability. In its mission to enrich people’s lives through new media arts, Rhizomatiks uses the latest virtual and mixed-reality technologies to orchestrate not only dance performances but music videos, commercials, fashion shows and festivals.Toru Nishikawa, the second keynote speaker and CEO at Preferred Networks, a leading Japan-based developer of deep learning software programs, surprised the SEMICON Japan audience with his discussion of his company’s work to develop a specialized chip for deep learning processing, joining technology giants Apple, Google, Alibaba and Microsoft in chip design. As more IT and software companies develop specialized, differentiated chips, the devices are quickly becoming the heartbeat of SMART technologies. The company’s approach has taken hold. Only four years old, Preferred Networks is enjoying rapid growth by working with global powerhouses including Toyota, NTT, Panasonic, Fanuc, NVIDIA, Intel and Microsoft. Ishibashi’s and Nishikawa’s fresh visions and the media arts extravaganza reflected the success of SEMICON Japan, held again at Tokyo Big Sight: The event’s 1,881 booths – filled by 727 exhibitors from 14 regions – was the highest count in six years. With Japan home to companies that supply about 40 percent of semiconductor equipment and materials worldwide, top suppliers historically have occupied the largest spaces on the SEMICON Japan show floor.According to IDC, personal computers and smartphones, long the largest revenue sources for the semiconductor industry, will remain top revenue drivers in the coming years. But revenue from new SMART technologies for applications such as automotive and factory automation is growing, a trend expected to continue with a 2018-2022 CAGR of 9.5 percent for automotive and 5.2 percent for manufacturing, compared to 1.1 percent for PCs and 2.9 percent for smartphones.SEMICON Japan’s new SMART Applications zone highlighted these and other new market opportunities for semiconductor growth with product and technology exhibits from companies including Bosch, IBM, Microsoft, NEC, Preferred Networks, Sony, SAS, Siemens, Tesla and Toyota. But the zone wasn’t all work and no play. The ROBOT SQUARE and SPORTS x IOT robot exhibits took visitors back to their school days, with robot anime – from Astro Boy to Gundam and Evangelion – that they could ride and control! As the World Gets Smarter, So Must SEMICON and the IndustryWe all agree the world is getting smarter at a fast pace. New cars are easier to drive – some models are almost fully autonomous on highways and streets. Your SMART speaker has gone well beyond an audio playback device and is more like a home AI platform. Almost all storefronts are equipped with video cameras. Your workplace, whether an office or a factory, is driven by automation. The reliance of these environments and devices on semiconductors is driving exponential chip and changing the world. Businesses need to adapt and so do SEMICON events. We’re doing just that as SEMICON Japan 2018 demonstrated – from an opening ceremony enabled by technology innovation to new faces of the industry to the SMART Application zone. As the SEMICON Japan presidents’ reception concluded the first day of the show, a robot from the ROBOT SQUARE suddenly appeared in the reception hall in front of about 250 executives from the global industry. Everyone at the reception was impressed and stepped forward to the stage, reflecting the overall excitement about SEMICON Japan, which for many years showcased only chip manufacturing equipment and materials. This year, to keep pace with the changing world, it was much more than that.SEMICON Japan 2019 will again take place in December at Tokyo Big Sight. However, organizers of the Tokyo Olympics will be using the East Exhibit Hall usually occupied by SEMICON Japan to prepare for the games. As a result, SEMICON Japan will be held in the West and South Halls instead. Look for more changes to the event. I hope to see you next year!Jim Hamajima is president of SEMI Japan.

Did you miss the SEMI International Standards Reception at SEMICON West 2018? Not to worry, here are the highlights.SEMI honored two Standards industry leaders for their outstanding accomplishments in developing Standards for the electronics and related industries.Two awards were given recognizing the efforts of each member. The Technical Editor Award recognizes the efforts of a member to ensure the technical excellence of a committee’s Standards. This year’s recipient is Sean Larsen of Lam Research. Mr. Larsen has led the North America EHS Committee and multiple EHS task forces for over a decade. His knowledge of the Regulations, Procedure Manual, and Style Manual, combined with his vast experience in the industry, ensures that complex safety matters are explained in a clear, consistent manner, and ballot authors frequently rely on him for his technical skills in preparing ballots.In addition to co-chairing the North America EHS Committee, Mr. Larsen is currently the co-leader of the SEMI S22 (Electrical Design) Revision TF, the SEMI S2 Non-Ionizing Radiation TF, the SEMI S2 Korean High Pressure Gas Safety TF, and the Control of Hazardous Energy TF.The Corporate Device Member Award recognizes the participation of the user community and is presented to individuals from device manufacturers. This year’s recipient is Don Hadder of Intel. Mr. Hadder has been actively involved in the Standards Program for several years, and currently leads the Chemical Analytical Methods Task Force and chairs the North America Liquid Chemicals Committee. He has successfully re-energized the committee, which is now focused on enabling continued process control improvements for advanced nodes. He recently drove the development of a critical new standard: SEMI C96, Test Method for Determining Density of Chemical Mechanical Polish Slurries, the first document in a series of SEMI Standards that will be devoted specifically to CMP slurry users, IDMs, slurry suppliers, metrology manufacturers and OEM equipment suppliers.Mr. Hadder has worked at Intel for 23 years, where his experience and system ownership has been in Diffusion, Wet Etch, Planar-CMP, Ultra-Pure Water, Waste Treatment Systems, Abatement and Vacuum Systems, Bulk and Specialty Gas, Bulk Chemical Delivery and Planar Chemical Delivery.James Amano, Sr. Dr. International Standards, opened the reception with a few words. He noted that the total number of published SEMI Standards is nearing 1000, and that these documents serve as the backbone of modern day semiconductor manufacturing. SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha, speaking at the SEMI International Standards Reception at SEMICON West. Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI, reminisced how he was an active Standards Member, and how much he got out of SEMI Standards as a young engineer at Bell Labs. He passionately emphasized that SEMI Standards remain critical in this era of new materials and disruptive architectures and processes, calling them the "oxygen of the industry."Laura Nguyen is coordinator, International Standards, at SEMI.

Christian G. Dieseldorff, Industry Research Statistics Group, SEMI (June 12, 2018)The semiconductor industry is nearing a third consecutive year of record equipment spending with projected growth of 14 percent (YOY) in 2018 and 9 percent in 2019, a mark that would extend the streak to a historic fourth consecutive growth year, according to the latest update of the World Fab Forecast report published by SEMI. The industry last saw four consecutive years of equipment spending growth in the mid 1990s.Korea and China are leading the growth, with Samsung dominating global spending and ascendant China on a fast, steep rise, surging ahead of all other markets. See figure 1.Figure 1: equipment spending by region (includes new and refurbished)Samsung is expected to reduce equipment investments in 2018. Despite the ebb, the company still accounts for a dominant 70 percent of all investment in Korea. At the same time, SK Hynix is increasing its equipment spending in Korea.China’s equipment spending is forecast to jump a whopping 65 percent in 2018 and 57 percent in 2019. Notably, 58 percent of investments in China in 2018 and 56 percent in 2019 stem from companies with headquarters in other regions such as Intel, SK Hynix, TSMC, Samsung, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Domestic, Chinese-owned companies – backed by large government initiatives – are building an impressive number of new fabs that will start equipping in 2018. The companies will double their equipment investments in 2018 and again in 2019.Meanwhile, other regions are also ramping up investments. Japan is beefing up equipment spending by 60 percent in 2018, with the largest increases by Toshiba, Sony, Renesas and Micron.The Europe and Mideastern region will boost investments by 12 percent in 2018, with Intel, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Infineon and ST Microelectronics as the largest contributors. Southeast Asia will increase investments by more than 30 percent in 2018, although total spending is proportionately smaller than in other regions owing to its size. The main contributors are Micron, Infineon and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, though companies including OSRAM and ams are also increasing investments.The SEMI World Fab Forecast, which also includes information on other companies, covers data and predictions through the end of 2019, including milestones, detailed investments by quarter, product types, technology nodes and capacities down to fab and project level.Learn more about the SEMI fab databases at:www.semi.org/en/MarketInfo/FabDatabase and www.youtube.com/user/SEMImktstats.

The growth of China’s semiconductor industry outstripped sector expansion in many other regions in 2017 thanks in part to heavy government investments and supportive state policies. But China’s chip industry also struggled under the weight of overheated investment, inconsistent project quality, insufficient investment in research and development, a poor ability to innovate, and barriers to international cooperation. To overcome these headwinds to growth, China must identify global trends in the development of global semiconductor industry and better understand the forces it needs to mobilize to further expand its own semiconductor sector. AI and 5G fuel global semiconductor industry growthIn 2017, global semiconductor industry revenue reached a seven-year peak, expanding 22 percent to nearly USD 420 billion, and entered a new growth phase with artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and other new technologies leading the surge with greater market segmentation, diversification and decentralization. The emergence of smart automobiles, smart cities, smart medicine, AR/VR and other new markets headed the list of new applications. In the next three to five years, semiconductor industry growth is expected to remain stable, with no marked declines. In 2018, the growth rate is expected to fall to between 5 percent and 8 percent, with the expansion more comprehensive and balanced. The memory market, in particular, will find it hard to match its 2017 blistering growth rate. The market’s expected growth of 10 percent to 20 percent will be chiefly driven by DRAM and 3D NAND Flash. In 2019, NAND growth will continue but DRAM shipments could decline. Emphasis on both innovation and investment key to sustainable growth of Chinese IC Under the China government’s Guidelines to Promote National IC Industry Development, designed to provide key policy guidance and capital support for the development of China’s IC industry, the Chinese semiconductor industry is seeing particularly rapid growth that is expected to be a key contributor to continuing global industry expansion. In IC design, HiSilicon and Unigroup Spreadtrum RDA ranked among the top 10 in the world. In wafer fabrication, Chinese IC manufacturing accounted for 13 percent to 15 percent of global market capacity despite SMIC and Huahong Group lagging international competition in advanced processing. In packaging and testing – China’s strongest segment – JCET, NFME and Huatian Technology also ranked in the global top 10. The Guidelines to Promote National IC Industry Development has fueled a boom in capital investments. However, investments must go well beyond fab construction to add new capacity for China’s semiconductor industry to flourish. A strategy for sustainable, long-term chip industry growth must focus more on technology innovation while continuing heavy capital investments, though it takes time for innovation to lead to higher capacity demand and GPD growth and more jobs. Despite large investments by the 02 Special Project in semiconductor equipment and materials, China trails other regions of the world in advanced technologies. Global spending on semiconductor equipment reached a record-breaking USD 56 billion in 2017, with Korea a major driver. In 2017, Samsung alone invested USD 25 billion in semiconductor equipment, followed by TSMC (USD 10.8 billion), Intel (USD 11.5 billion), Hynix (USD 8.5 billion), Micron (USD 0.5 billion), SMIC (USD 2.3 billion) and YMTC (USD 2 billion). In 2018, Samsung’s equipment spending is expected to drop slightly, to USD 24 billion, while investments by Intel and TSMC will be remain roughly equal. China’s equipment spending will continue to grow in 2018, with SMIC and YMTC maintaining investment levels similar to last year’s and other China semiconductor manufacturers starting to ramp up investments. In 2018, China is expected to surpass Taiwan in equipment spending to claim the number two position after Korea. SIIP China dedicated to international connection and cooperation The huge investments in China’s semiconductor industry need to be supported by robust business strategies, greater international cooperation, deeper expertise in advanced technologies, and more skilled workers. China lags the global industry in all of these areas. The rapid rise of China’s semiconductor industry has raised concerns among many countries over China’s growing influence, with some, most notably the United States, going so far as to implement containment measures. Other regions including Japan, Korea and Taiwan followed suit. The continued growth of China’s semiconductor industry hinges on technological innovation enabled by international cooperation, as well as strong international communication to allay concerns and misunderstandings over the rising prominence of China’s chip sector. China must overcome these obstacles. One partial solution is for China to convince the rest of the world that its need a thriving semiconductor industry if only to meet enormous demand for electronics products within its own borders. As the largest international semiconductor industry association, SEMI enjoys a unique ability to strengthen the connection between China’s semiconductor sector and its international counterparts. SEMI is well-known for its vital support of the traditional semiconductor equipment and materials markets, but SEMI’s work also spans IC design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. What’s more, SEMI has expanded into innovative market vertical applications such as AI, smart manufacturing, smart transportation and smart automotive as it aims to bring together supply chains across these growth areas. For its part, SEMI China remains dedicated to improving communications and cooperation between the Chinese and global semiconductor industries. SEMI China will also continue to encourage deeper collaboration among individual enterprises and government institutions in the interest of industry growth while making full use of SEMI’s international, professional and localization platform to promote the development of China’s semiconductor industry. Last year, we established SEMI Innovation Investment Platform (SIIP) China to help grow China’s pool of skilled workers, promote advanced technology, generate industry capital, and expand China’s semiconductor industry while developing stronger connections with chip sectors in other regions. SIIP China is focused on the following: Promoting sustainable development of the Chinese semiconductor industry Establishing stronger connections to help take advantage of global technology and investment opportunities Providing a platform for open communications between the Chinese and global semiconductor industries Promoting greater coordination between China and its global partners Helping newly enterprises secure funds for expansion Encouraging greater cooperation with foreign semiconductor manufacturers in the interest of openness and mutual benefit will be the best way for China to overcome obstacles to the development of its semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, China will continue to strive to merge into the global semiconductor industry and become a key partner. SEMICON China has witnessed the development of Chinese semiconductor industry SEMICON China marked its 30th anniversary this year. Over the past three decades, China’s semiconductor industry has seen remarkable growth. This year’s SEMICON China was the largest ever. SEMICON China and FPD China 2018 numbered 3,628 booths, covered 74,000 square meters of exhibition space and attracted 1,116 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions and 91,252 professional attendees from 58 countries and regions. Most of China’s top device makers and global leading packaging houses, together with their equipment and materials suppliers, exhibited at SEMICON China and FPD China 2018, representing the global IC manufacturing ecosystem. The number of SEMICON China and FPD China 2018 visitors jumped 32.3 percent from last year, with representation by professionals from the design, manufacturing, assembly and test, equipment and materials sectors. Lung Chu is President of SEMI China.