IC design

China’s semiconductor sector has exploded to become one of the largest in the world and match the region’s prominence as the biggest consumer of chips. From 2015 to 2020 alone, revenue of China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry expanded at a rapid clip of 20% CAGR (RMB) to $128 billion.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping electronic system design as consumer-facing companies like Facebook and Google design their own hardware. Electronic system design is enabling rapid changes and new innovation in automotive. Designing microchips for the commercialization of outer space faces stiff challenges.These are just a few topics that companies driving technology innovation in electronic system design will discuss at SEMICON Europa, 12-15 November 2019 in Munich, Germany. In the run-up to the event, SEMI spoke with Bob Smith, executive director of the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, about how the integration of the ESD Alliance with SEMI’s global platforms is extending design expertise in the worldwide electronics industry. Smith shared his views ahead of the SMART Design Forum, 14 November 2019, 14:30 to 17:00, at SEMICON Europa. Registration is open. Join the forum to meet experts from ESD Alliance and other key industry influencers. Attendance is free of charge for all SEMICON Europa visitors (Hall B1, TechARENA 1).SEMI: In August of last year, SEMI announced the ESD (Electronic System Design) Alliance joined SEMI as a Strategic Association Partner. How does this partnership benefit the design and semiconductor industries?Smith: As indicated back then by Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI, “Design is the very foundation of semiconductor innovation and manufacturing.” The integration of the ESD Alliance with SEMI’s event and global platforms enables the design community to expand its expertise to the worldwide electronics industry. The integration helps streamline collaboration and connection of SEMI members with the electronic system design, IP and fabless communities.ESD Alliance members are now able to more efficiently engage with the electronics manufacturing supply chain on technical and business issues and gain access to comprehensive global resources and platforms. Those resources include SEMI’s technology communities and activities in areas such as advocacy, international standards and environment, health and safety (EH S), industry statistics, trade and regulatory initiatives.SEMI: And what were the main opportunities for the ESD Alliance to present the scope of the brand-new collaboration? How did the ESD Alliance enlarge the scope of the semiconductor and design industries?Smith: Although the ESD Alliance has international member companies, the reach and focus of our activities was limited to North America. SEMI’s global platform allows us to spread our design initiatives worldwide. In 2019 we introduced design at SEMICON events in China, Taiwan, the U.S. and now Europe with our participation in SEMICON Europa’s SMART Design Forum. By introducing design into these global events, we are advancing SEMI’s expanded mission to represent the entire global electronic design and manufacturing chain and tighten the connection between the semiconductor and design industries.Industrywide events like SEMICON Europa and its SMART Design Forum bring the entire electronic product supply chain closer together by focusing on commercial achievements in design and presenting forward-looking, system-centric views. The Smart Design Forum is a great opportunity for attendees to deepen their understanding of the links across design and manufacturing and throughout the supply chain during sessions and informal discussions at networking and social events. These exchanges help foster the collaborations essential to addressing technical challenges and ushering exciting new electronic products from concept to consumer.SEMI: How is the semiconductor design ecosystem evolving? What disciplines are becoming integrated with those that have historically governed the scene? Can you tell us more about the concept of system-centric view?Smith: In the early days of electronic design automation (EDA), design was largely separated from manufacturing. On the design side, the goal was to design and tape-out chips. After tape-out, the chip was handed off to the manufacturing group and the design team went on to a new project. We refer to this era as chip-centric.Now, given the complexity of both chips and electronic systems, design and manufacturing can no longer be separated. Instead, they must collaborate from the beginning of a project on all aspects of system design. This system-centric view enables the delivery of smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. This is a big responsibility and meeting it demands tight cooperation and collaboration across multiple disciplines including semiconductor design, packaging, software development, materials and manufacturing, system integration and testing.SEMI: What’s one of your strategic objectives for 2020? Smith: In 2020 we plan to launch our Connecting the Divide initiative to bring the design and manufacturing communities closer together to help both better understand the role of the other, the value each provides and the unique challenges each community faces. The goal is to increase the rate of collaboration between design and manufacturing in answering both industries’ need for a system-centric approach to new electronic product/system design.SEMI: Do we have good reason to be optimistic about opportunities on the horizon? What’s one prediction for the future of semiconductor design solutions you’d like to share?Smith: We seem to be surrounded by almost limitless opportunities. In terms of design, my prediction is that we will see higher levels of system design abstraction that will allow systems to be rapidly configured and verified in a way that we cannot do today. In essence, we will be able to build virtual systems rapidly to reduce the risk and cost of developing new electronic products.SEMI: What are your expectations regarding the SMART Design Forum at SEMICON Europa 2019 in Munich? Smith: We are excited to be bringing the design conversation into SEMICON Europa at the SMART Design Forum. Europe has been recognized as a leading region in embracing and driving system design. Our objective is to move deeper into system-centric design through the exchange of information and ideas at the SMART Design Forum.Robert (Bob) Smith is Executive Director of the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner. The ESD Alliance is an international trade association of companies providing goods and services throughout the semiconductor design ecosystem. Bob began his career as an analog design engineer at Hewlett-Packard working on disk drive technology. Since then, he has spent more than 30 years in various roles in executive management, marketing, and business development primarily working with startup and other early stage companies in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP. These companies include IKOS Systems, Synopsys, LogicVision, Magma Design Automation and Uniquify. He was a member of the IPO teams that took Synopsys public in 1992 and Magma public in 2001. Bob received his BSEE from U.C. Davis and his MSEE from Stanford University. Serena Brischetto is a marketing and communications manager at SEMI Europe.

IC design has emerged as the largest semiconductor sector in China, with 2017 revenues of $31.9 billion generated by about 1,380 companies. At the same time, China’s fabless segment has risen to third in global rankings with about one-tenth of worldwide sales.Most of China’s fabless segment produces the logic chips that are key to defense, telecommunications, finance and other industries important to the region’s national security interests and its independence from U.S. and other international suppliers. Investment in fabless logic continues to be the top priority in China’s Phase 2 investment. In mobile, China made meaningful progress through HiSilicon and Spreadtrum, both fabless design houses.In 2017, HiSilicon and UNISOC (formerly Spreadtrum), China’s two largest domestic IC design companies, were ranked in the global top 10 of fabless companies, though most Chinese IC design companies are small, with revenues under $1 million. Working with domestic smartphone makers, both companies have carved out a strong presence in logic and, in particular, the communications and application processors that power data centers and Internet of Things (IoT).Despite their rapid rise, China’s AI accelerators and cryptocurrency ASIC suppliers have yet to appear in China’s top 10. However, we expect their aggressive roadmaps and early adoption of leading-edge process technologies to propel them into the top 10 in the near future. As illustrated in the figure below, an examination of the competitiveness of China’s semiconductor segments reveals that the close proximity of China’s fabless companies to the region’s electronic systems makers plays to their advantage, though access to IP and leading-edge process technologies is a barrier to their growth in the near term. A key barrier to China’s foundries is their limited ability to develop leading-edge process technologies and strategic relationships with top international fabless companies. Most leading international fabless companies rely on customer-owned tooling (COT) and design tools for design. As the approach takes time to develop, it will not support China’s aggressive goal and timeline to independently meet domestic IC demand. Instead, China has been disciplined in executing its strategy to acquire valuable IP and leading-edge technologies by aggressively partnering with international fabless design leaders and pursuing deals with market leaders and laggards. The initial entry point for Chinese fabless companies was the low-margin consumer applications dominated by Chinese suppliers, giving them considerable control over demand. In addition, Chinese companies have aggressively hired top talent from abroad and grown the skills of its engineering workforce to sustain innovation. China will likely free itself from its reliance on non-Chinese developed manufacturing process technology and EDA design tools.China’s semiconductor design growth, concentrated in the Pearl River Delta (see figure below), is fueled by national and local investment programs. SEMI August 2018 The Pearl River Delta, which includes Xiamen, Quanzhou and Shenzhen, is establishing itself as China’s IC design, system and application hub. Domestic and international companies are eligible for investment provided they are established or investing in one of the four regionshat are home to various sectors of the electronics and semiconductor supply chain. Access to large investment funds, coupled with China’s infrastructure build-out, is a strong supporting force to drive the growth of top-tier domestic fabless companies. For its part, the Phase 2 of China’s National Investment Fund targets investments of RMB 150 - 200 billion ($23 billion - $30 billion) in IC design. The growing domestic consumer base and infrastructure investment will drive opportunities for China’s fabless companies over the next decade.To learn more about the latest development on China IC Industry, and get a sample of the China IC Ecosystem Report, visit http://www.semi.org/en/china-ic-ecosystem-report.China IC Ecosystem Report covers the rise of China’s IC industry, national and local government policies, public and private funding, and their implications for China's IC supply chain. The report also compares key domestic companies and their international peers segment by segment.Eugenia Liu is a senior product marketing manager at SEMI. Shanshan Du is chief analyst and program director at SEMI China.