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The global semiconductor industry is on track to register a rare three consecutive years of record highs in fab equipment spending with a 16% increase in 2020 followed by forecast gains of 15.5% this year and 12% in 2022, SEMI highlighted in its quarterly World Fab Forecast report.

Technology advancements seem to be coming at us fast and furiously. Every time you turn around, another company is introducing a breakthrough product with claims of far-reaching implications on how we live and work. But how often do consumers really experience disruptive innovation, like the kind that smartphones and cloud computing have had on our lives? Instead of astounding people, many new products that hit the market today are merely upgraded versions of their predecessor – perhaps offering smaller footprints with faster processors, more attractive packaging, or add-on features. These upgrades tend to underwhelm customers, offering no compelling reason to justify their accompanying price hikes.What consumers want is disruptive technology that truly enhances their lives, whether at work, at home or at play. And that’s exactly what product manufacturers want to deliver. So what’s holding them back?The Limits of Traditional BatteriesThe challenge doesn’t lie in envisioning exciting new offerings. Vendors are great at that. Rather, when it comes to consumer-focused, electronics-based products, the culprit is often conventional, rigid and thick batteries that limit what can be designed around them.But it doesn’t have to be this way.Advances in flexible and thin batteries can spark a whole new level of product differentiation. Even though such batteries have been available now for a few years, they are still a foreign concept to many product designers accustomed to conventional off-the-shelf energy storage that is fixed in rigidity and shape. It’s hard for some people to believe that batteries can fold and flex while maintaining their performance and safety. As a result, they design products around rigid battery parameters. The Promise of FlexibilityFortunately, flexible battery technology is available today, even for high-volume production.While the allure of flexible battery technology is strong, we find ourselves having to reassure manufacturers that flexible batteries are every bit as dependable as their rigid progenitors. Our testing shows that performance-integrity in flexible batteries is strong. They can be flexed, bent and even rolled in any direction without deteriorating performance. For instance, we tested a flexible battery by bending it 10,000 times to prove that it has essentially the same capacity as a non-bent battery. This flexibility gives designers and engineers a new level of freedom in hardware design: Manufacturers can now place batteries in spaces not possible or practical before. Take smartwatches, for instance. Instead of locating batteries in only the head case, engineers can embed a flexible, thin battery in the strap band to increase accessible energy or lengthen battery life. As market demand grows for wearables and hearables, smart apparel and other personal battery-powered products, consumers want more natural-feeling experiences. Unlike fixed off-the-shelf energy solutions offered in a limited range of form factors and capacities, flexible batteries can support customization by size, thickness and capacity, enabling development of products that are smaller, lighter and more comfortable.Rigid batteries are problematic on a whole other level, and that’s safety. Electrolyte advancements ensure flexible batteries are safer. The latest gel-polymer electrolyte is safer than liquid electrolyte because it does not contain liquid that would leak if the battery is pierced or penetrated – yet it still delivers the same high level of ionic conductivity. This is a great advantage for manufacturers of wearables in medical devices, sports equipment and fabrics, industrial applications, and consumer electronics. Knowing that their devices contain safer components not only brings peace of mind to manufacturers and consumers but also increases both adoption and usage rates. Staying competitive in any technology-driven market requires a steady stream of innovation. To rise above the pack, companies must fearlessly embrace advancements that will differentiate them in the marketplace. Your choice of battery is critical to your hardware design – especially if consumers will be in direct contact with the battery. The performance and enhanced safety inherent in next-generation flexible batteries can free you to create disruptive products that deliver a compelling user experience. To learn more about flexible batteries, visit Jenax.EJ Shin delivered an engaging presentation at 2019FLEX Japan (May 22-23, 2019, in Shinagawa, Tokyo), where she discussed Jenax’s flexible and customizable rechargeable battery, a technology that allows batteries to integrate seamlessly into a new generation of medical devices.FLEX Japan is a hosted by FlexTech and MEMS Sensors Industry Group, SEMI technology communities.EJ Shin is Global Director at Jenax Inc., a company that pioneered the next-generation flexible, thin battery that can be bent and rolled in any direction. She has been with Jenax since the company initiated its battery development. EJ helps device and wearable companies leverage Jenax’s customized battery solution for their innovative products. Earlier, she held communications consulting positions at Fleishman Hillard and G20 Summit in Korea. EJ holds an MBA from Yonsei University, South Korea, and a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University, U.S.

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.