semiconductor industry

Ischemic stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide, affecting over 13 million people each year and costing tens of billions of dollars. Sensome, a French medtech that offers connected medical devices, has developed micrometric AI-powered impedance sensors that can identify the biological nature of the tissue they touch in real-time. Integration of this proprietary technology into a probe to guide medical devices in arteries (a guidewire) has given rise to Sensome’s first product, Clotild®, which recognizes blood clot types in ischemic strokes so clots can be treated faster to improve patients’ chances of a full recovery. The Sensome technology also helps transform the current standard of care in oncology.SEMI spoke with Franz Bozsak, CEO and co-founder of Sensome, about innovative medical technology trends and how microelectronics plays a crucial role.SEMI: When did your adventure with Sensome start? Bozsak: My former Ph.D. advisor Abdul Barakat and I spun-out Sensome from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in early 2014 after receiving a 200.000 Euro grant from the French government. We then developed a micrometric impedance sensor that coupled to machine-learning algorithms to identify biological tissues on contact. We are still integrating this sensing technology with existing medical devices in order to create a new category of smart medical devices that provides physicians with relevant insights during their interventions and treatments. These additional insights aim to render healthcare treatments more effective by reducing the risk of complications and the cost of interventions while improving patient monitoring.SEMI: How are strokes typically treated? Bozsak: Before 2014 the almost exclusive way of treating ischemic stroke was by injecting tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) intravenously in order to chemically dissolve an arterial clot. This treatment approach has severe limitations and can only be used in the first 4.5 hours following the onset of a stroke. In 2015, several randomized clinical trials demonstrated the efficacy of a new treatment modality: mechanical thrombectomy.Medical devices that allow a clot to be removed mechanically either using a grid-like structure (a stentriever) or by aspirating the clot using an aspiration catheter completely changed the paradigm in the treatment of ischemic stroke for up to a third of all patients. This new intervention removes the clot in up to 90% of all cases and can for certain patients be used up to 24 hours after the onset of the stroke.Mechanical thrombectomy is now one of the most effective medical treatments in the world. The clinical data gathered over the past years also shows that, in order to maximize the patient’s chances to lead a life free from disability after a stroke, it is not only a question of getting the clot out but also about how the clot was removed. Removing the clot on the first attempt significantly increases the patient’s chances of recovery – the first-pass-effect that is now the objective when treating ischemic stroke patients. And this is exactly where Sensome wants to help since clot removal after several attempts increases risk for patients. SEMI: How did you improve mechanical stroke treatments?We have integrated our sensor technology into a guidewire, the first device to enter a patient’s blood vessels for navigation to the clot. Once in place, the smart guidewire – called Clotild® – guides the thrombectomy device to provide the physician with information on the clot to help the physician choose the thrombectomy device with the highest chances of achieving the first-pass-effect. SEMI: Medical technology has made astonishing advances over the years. How did Sensome develop the micrometric AI-powered impedance sensors?Bozsak: The development of a product like Clotild® would have not been possible five years ago, and many people considered what we wanted to achieve simply incredible. Today, we can answer those same people: We knew it was almost impossible and therefore we just did it. By combining diverse semiconductor technologies, we were able to build the smallest impedance meter in the world. This was then integrated into a guidewire that can be connected via a transmitter to a tablet that serves as the interface with the physician. The guidewire provides impedance measurements that can be analyzed by a machine-learning algorithm, which in turn identifies the tissue in contact with the sensor. A very diverse team of people, collaboration and several different disciplines such as micro-electronics, data science, biology and engineering were required to make this happen.Our ambitious team has been able to flourish and accomplish their ideas in the very stimulating and resourceful environment of the Ecole Polytechnique, while being embedded into the rich and fertile start-up ecosystem of Paris. It is the combination of all these factors taken together that have made our innovation possible.SEMI: What are the main challenges and what are the market opportunities? Bozsak: Bringing semiconductor technology into the medical field is not a straightforward process. The primary hurdle is the simple fact that medical device production volumes are not comparable with consumer electronics volumes and that development cycles are much longer due to regulatory constraints. Both factors are, at first sight, not necessarily compatible with today’s business model of the semiconductor industry. At the same time, this is also a unique opportunity for the semiconductor industry to diversify and expand into a new field – sensors and, in particular, their seamless integration into the healthcare workflow, are a key driver for the healthcare sector of the future. And to achieve this objective, semiconductor technologies are key. What is beneficial, in my opinion, is that the quality standards and requirements of the semiconductor industry are highly compatible with the needs of the medical device industry.SEMI: Are market fragmentation and the high level of regulation making medtech innovation harder?Bozsak: Both are challenging but very rewarding to pursue since the impact on a patient’s life can be profound. Innovation is harder because many stakeholders are involved in ensuring the success of a medical device launch. The involved, milestone-driven, highly regulated process of developing a medical device and bringing the device to the market assures its eventual success. The development process differs very much from those for normal consumer devices. In our case the beneficiary, the patient, is not necessarily the user of the device but rather the physician. The physician is not necessarily the buyer of the device, but the hospital. The hospital is not necessarily paying the device, but ideally the government.The interests of all these stakeholders need to be satisfied to bring a successful device to the market.SEMI: What are your expectations regarding the future of medtech digital innovation? Bozsak: This is the right moment for the medical device and semiconductor industries to come together. The healthcare sector is not low on medical needs for which innovative ideas exist, and the semiconductor industry has many technologies that can enable these ideas to generate solutions. But to make this happen, both sectors need to collaborate. Working together requires both sides to understand their respective needs and constraints. The earlier the knowledge exchange starts, the more powerful the solutions. SEMI MedTech Forum at SEMICON Europa last year was a wonderful opportunity for Sensome to get this discussion going. We are looking forward to continuing the exchange and push the frontiers of the possible further to create the future of digital healthcare.Franz Bozsak, CEO and co-founder at Sensome, obtained a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart and a Ph.D. from the Ecole Polytechnique in Biomedical Engineering on the optimization of stents. He is a graduate of the Stanford Ignite/Polytechnique business program. In 2014, he co-founded Sensome and has since built a team of renowned scientists, engineers and doctors to realize his vision of connected medical devices. He was named Innovator Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review in 2016. Serena Brischetto is a marketing and communications manager at SEMI Europe.

Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their direct suppliers of parts and systems share a vision: Next-generation vehicles will be more electric, autonomous and connected. At a market size of more than $1 trillion, automotive is steadily becoming a high-tech market as cars morph into advanced technology platforms with partially or fully autonomous features. Call them semiconductors on wheels. Big players such as Google and many carmakers are investing heavily in chip advances to help drive increases in silicon content in automobiles.At SEMICON Europa, Pierrick Boulay, Solid State Lighting and Lighting Systems analyst at Yole Développement, will provide a market update on autonomous automobile trends including the state of sensors, radars, cameras and LiDARs as the industry works to increase the level of autonomy and electrification.Autonomous vehicle design can only thrive with the development of an industry standard for chip and device traceability across the supply chain. The importance of chip traceability to the automotive industry is reflected in its central role in driving a chip traceability standard.According to Heidi Hoffman, senior director of technology communities marketing at SEMI, “chip traceability is one of the next big things for the technology industry. The benefits are enormous, and the upsides – including yield enhancements, counterfeiting safeguards, and support for new applications – are plentiful. But the implementation challenges of chip traceability are also big and will require considerable effort to overcome. The biggest hurdle of all? We need to transcend industry fears by demonstrating that we can secure IP when it is shared across the hardware supply chain.” The Importance of Standards, Data Collection and Collaboration Across the Supply ChainThe automotive industry has long embraced tracing the sources of defects. Now, as the automotive and semiconductor supply chains increasingly overlap, traceability has taken on greater importance in the semiconductor industry. SEMI committees, task forces and events such as the Smart Transportation Forum at SEMICON Europa are ideal platforms for collaborating to develop new standards and best practices for the automotive industry.Earlier this year, German luxury automobile maker Audi AG became the first automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to join SEMI as member, strengthening alignment across automotive supply-chain segments. At SEMICON Europa, the SMART Transportation Forum and Pavilion, staged by the SEMI Global Automotive Advisory Council (GAAC) and bolstered by the Electronic System Design Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, will gather key stakeholders across the automotive value chain, from design and semiconductor equipment to materials and carmakers, to explore innovation opportunities in automotive electronics. SEMI Global Automotive Advisory Council (GAAC) “If the industry wants to reach the goal of zero defects, a new collaborative approach is necessary,” observed Antoine Amade, senior regional director EMEA at Entegris. At SEMICON Europa, Amade will present new ways to collaborate in reducing chip defectivity and meet other challenges in the automotive industry.More than half of semiconductor failures on the automotive assembly line today (so-called 0km failures) are traced to semiconductor fab defectivity. “The increasing semiconductor content in automobiles – driven by growth in ADAS, electrification and autonomy – has put a growing focus on the quality and reliability of these devices and their implications for consumer safety and satisfaction,” said Oreste Donzella, senior vice president and CMO at KLA.The smart manufacturing (Industry 4.0) revolution is already spurring higher performance and great efficiencies throughout the supply chain and will also be crucial to driving innovation in automotive. Smart manufacturing makes possible significant improvements in factory key performance indicators (KPI) for cycle time, on-time delivery, overall equipment effectiveness, cost and product quality.“These KPI gains are key to meeting quality levels the automotive industry must reach to support the deployment of autonomous driving vehicles,” said John R. Behnke, general manager of Final Phase Systems at INFICON. In his talk at SEMICON Europa, Behnke will provide an overview of existing, in-progress, and future smart manufacturing solutions for the semiconductor industry and their impact on the automotive supply chain. The SMART Transportation Forum, 13 November, 2019 (9:30-15:30 at ICM Munich, room 14c) at SEMICON Europa is the premier platform for key stakeholders to connect, collaborate and innovate across the automotive value chain. Automotive and semiconductor industry experts will offer insights into trends in design, semiconductor equipment and materials, and automotive innovation and the roadmap to 2030. The SMART Transportation Forum will also showcase innovations in imaging, sensing, artificial intelligence (AI), smart manufacturing and L5 mobility.Other SEMICON Europa highlights: Advanced Packaging Conference: Packaging and Test Challenges Towards High Reliability (12-13 November 2019) 23rd Fab Management Forum: Game Changers for Semiconductor Operations(11-12 November 2019) Strategic Materials Conference: Strategic Materials Enabling Industry Roadmaps(12-13 November 2019) SEMICON Europa registration is open for visitors and exhibitors. For more details, please visit the SEMICON Europa website and connect with SEMI Europe on Twitter or LinkedIn @SEMIEurope (use #SEMICONEuropa).Learn more about the SEMI chip traceability standard – SEMI T23 - Specification for Single Device Traceability for the Supply Chain – and SEMI Technology Communities.Serena Brischetto is a marketing and communications manager at SEMI Europe.

AI vs. energy. Quantum for everyone. Biofabrication of human organs on a mass scale. Slowing advancements from Moore’s law.In the midst of a market dip, optimism reigned as keynote and AI Design Forum speakers addressed both looming challenges and explosive market opportunities during July 9-10 presentations at SEMICON West 2019 in San Francisco. SEMICON West again proved to be a magnet for visionaries who laid out the path to electronics innovation over the coming years.“The current business environment demands that the industry looks ahead toward issues that need attention sooner, not later – especially since we are approaching a once-in-a-generation inflection point that has the potential to be a $10 trillion opportunity,” observed SEMI Americas president Dave Anderson.Market forecasts punctuate the point: The microelectronics supply chain is on the verge of what has the potential to be the longest-lived electronics era.“Inflection points like this are rare, but not unprecedented,” Anderson added, citing 2007 as the inflection of the growth curve from new technologies that led to last year’s historic high semiconductor sales.SEMICON West squarely focused on the future, with a number of industry leaders noting that chip, tool and materials makers need to look beyond their immediate suppliers and customers in developing strategic partnerships. Dr. Cliff Young, data scientist with the Google Brain Team, for one, invited semiconductor and equipment firms to explore chip codesigning opportunities with his Google.The recently formed Quantum Economic Development Consortium – and its 50 members including Boeing, Google and IBM – debuted roadmapping activities devoted to the pursuit of U.S. leadership in the rapidly emerging global quantum computing industry. IBM’s Jeff Welser showcased the IBM Q Computer model built upon decades of semiconductor industry advances. Markets that could see staggering leaps from a quantum computational capacity include automotive, medical, financial and energy. Today, anyone can dabble with the future quantum computing capabilities by connecting online with IBM’s 16-qubit quantum computer. Dr. Aart de Geus, chairman and co-CEO of Synopsys, suggested that software and other programming tends to develop more quickly if it is open sourced. He recommends an open source model that allows semiconductor and equipment companies to work together in the cloud to speed chip development.Nate Baxter, TEL development and production group general manager, advocated sharing big data with competitors in pre-competitive spaces to ensure data quality, improve measurement and solve problems faster. The key is security. “Yes, we can share data while protecting it,” he said. “We’re quickly seeing opportunities that we didn’t know existed.”Gary Dickerson, Applied Materials president and CEO, said that embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in chips will drive significant long-term industry growth by processing far more big data computations much faster than humans can.That is, if there is enough electricity. Almost invisibly, AI-enabled machines already are crunching massive amounts of data while gulping power in the process. As AI use rapidly expands, current power grids will be stressed as never before. Dickerson added that speed of innovation, societal acceptance, security and safety will guide how well and quickly AI is adopted. A potential hurdle, however, is sustainability. He warned power constraints could be “very high” and a “barrier to AI adoption if we don’t drive innovation” in substantially reducing the power draw of power-hungry AI chips.Of the five members of a venture capitalist panel, four agreed that Moore’s Law as we knew it is dead. The promising news is that the average age of a first-time mobile phone user is 10, more than 40 percent of the world population is now under 25 and about to wield considerable market influence, and 5G is on the cusp of helping connect trillions of devices. AMD CEO Lisa Su noted “there’s a tremendous amount of innovation yet to come” from microarchitectural advances, chiplets and die stacking, and heterogenous platforms.And there’s nothing more innovative – or intriguing – than regenerating human organs in mass volume. Legendary inventor Dean Kamen laid out his well-funded plans to biofabricate the viscera of human existence but warned of two crucial missing pieces – scale and talent. “I’m here at SEMICON West to beg for high-tech’s help in getting artificial human organs out of labs and ramped up for volume manufacturing and widespread distribution,” Kamen said during his keynote. “The basic science already exists, but researchers can’t bring it to scale like Silicon Valley can.”The talent Kamen needs to fulfill his dream will come from the pool of skilled workers the microelectronics industry is feverishly working to recruit to make good on its own ambitions. As if on cue, SEMI endorsed Kamen’s FIRST Global program, establishing a united effort to encourage young people worldwide to pursue engineering careers. “Together, we can better help provide a path to success for generations to come,” SEMI’s Anderson said.Scott Stevens, SEMI

Shenyang is on an unwavering path to maturing its integrated circuit (IC) equipment manufacturing industry over the next few decades in response to the Made in China 2025 Strategy. Since the strategy’s introduction in 2015, the city, long a transportation and commercial hub of China's northeast, has built out a complete integrated circuit industrial chain integrating technical research and innovation, components and parts processing, and equipment manufacturing. Its ambition is to compete on the world stage.Shenyang has implemented policies and provided funding to support the development of its IC equipment and related industries to buttress the development of emerging industries. Speaking at the SEMI China Members Day 2019 in Shenyang, Zheng Guangwen, secretary-general of ICMTIA and Shenyang IC Equipment Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, said that the city, as a key IC equipment industry base in the upstream of China’s industrial chain, hopes to enter the international community in part by leveraging SEMI’s global platform. Zheng Guangwen, Secretary General, ICMTIA and Shenyang IC Equipment Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance More than 150 representatives from member companies gathered at SEMI China Members Day 2019 to discuss China’s semiconductor industry investment and capital dynamics and semiconductor market trends. The event sought to promote stronger communication and interaction between the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor industry chain. The forum was co-sponsored by SEMI China and Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau and co-hosted by ICMTIA and Shenyang IC Equipment Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Lung Chu, President of SEMI China Opening the event, Lung Chu, president of SEMI China, set stage for the discussion by noting that global semiconductor industry has been booming since 1957, reaching another record high of $470 billion in sales last year as it faced a critical juncture, with industry growth slowing in the first half of 2019. The slowdown was predictable and is temporary, a natural stage in the industry’s cyclicality. From a macro point of view, the development of advanced technology requires huge investment. There was an obvious gap in investment between enterprises, which often leads to the stronger become much stronger. Under these circumstances, it is very important for China to master key technologies and products during the process of catching up and surpassing. Each region should focus on its strengths.Enterprises should do their own business in a low-key way and keep a prudent and optimistic attitude. The number of SEMI China members has reached a new high. SEMI China is committed to becoming the best partner to realize China's semiconductor dreams. In promoting the development of global semiconductor industry and China's semiconductor industry, SEMI has continuously gathered strength and actively organized rich activities to promote the sustainable growth of Chinese semiconductor enterprises through international cooperation. Zhao Rigang, Director of SCTB, Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau Zhao Rigang, director of SCTB at Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau, pointed to the importance of SEMI’s pivotal role and global influence in cultivating cooperation between international and domestic industries including Shenyang’s IC sector. Speaking at the SEMI China Members Day 2019 in early June, Rigang said the growing importance of chips in China is a key catalyst for Shenyang’s rise as semiconductor sectors domestically and abroad invest heavily in a new generation of information technologies such as mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things. Kang Jin, General Manager, SMIC Beijing For China’s semiconductor industry to flourish, the region must improve its IC supply capacity just as it has brought its PV industry to full maturation, said Kang Jin, general manager of SMIC Beijing. The key to developing China's integrated circuit industry, he said, lies in building a robust semiconductor supply chain. Zong Runfu, Chairman and General Manager, KINGSEMI Semiconductor Equipment Supply Chain DevelopmentLocalization has enabled KINGSEMI to optimize its technology design capabilities to produce high cost-performance equipment for greater competitive advantage, saidZong Runfu, chairman and general manager of KINGSEMI. While the localization rate of supply chain construction was over 50 percent, the localization rate for front-end equipment is still low. Zong Runfu said localization is imperative not only to lowering costs, but also to ameliorating the supply-guarantee rate, maintaining quality and shortening the delivery cycle. Russell Li, VP of Marketing and Business Development, WLCSP Packaging Solutions for 3D Active Sensing DevicesInternet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and other technologies are starting to become a part of daily life as more sensors find their way into new retail stores and smartphones, a trend that will continue as autonomous transportation begins to take hold, said Russell Liu, VP of marketing and business development at WLCSP. The move to bring more human-like capabilities to technology is driving the implementation of perception function in devices, with passive sensors giving way to active sensors and machines translating the physical world into a 3D view through the eyes of a 3D camera. What’s more, the next generation of IoT devices will feature more integrated processors including signal processors, caches, sensors, photons, RF and MEMS, bringing the challenges of miniaturization to system integration. Liu said miniaturization will only be possible by developing advanced packaging technologies that enable highly integrated processors for mobile devices and intelligent automobiles. Wang Ronghua, VP of Technology, Dalian Xinguan Technology Getting Ready for GaN Power Electronics EraGaN offers excellent performance in optoelectronics, RF and power electronics and will coexist with and complement silicon devices for years to come, said Wang Ronghua, VP of Technology at Dalian Xinguan Technology. However, the industrialization of GaN power devices still faces technical challenges in application, reliability, packaging, epitaxy, device and process – all barriers to market adoption. To overcome these hurdles, GaN power devices must meet the reliability and cost-performance requirements of applications to which they are best suited.Ronghau said that GaN power devices, such as cascade and p-GaN enhanced devices, now support end products, proof that the era of gallium nitride has arrived. “Gallium nitride is quite different from silicon in epitaxy, device design and key technology, which requires close integration of upstream and downstream industry chains for effective promotion,” he said. Billy Feng, Executive Director, J.P. Morgan Is the Semiconductor Industry Still Cyclical? Since 2008, the semiconductor cycle has waned, disrupting the traditional thinking of investors, equipment suppliers and logistics channel providers as investors’ appetite for the chip industry investments has grown, said Billy Feng, executive director at J.P. Morgan. The long-term prospects for the semiconductor industry remain bright. But after reaching historic revenue highs in 2017 and 2018, the industry – and investor expectations – will enter a period of adjustment. Dr. Adam He, Executive Director, CGP Tech Fund The unique gene of the semiconductor industry consists of the blend of its lofty requirements for quality, reliability and consistency; cooperation between upstream and downstream sectors; internationalization; and a powerful ambition to innovate, said Dr. Adam He, Executive Director of CGP Tech Fund. He described Chinese chip enterprises he often encounters as falling into one of two entrepreneurial categories – IC experts and cross-border business people. Both want the answer to "how to make money and how to establish a solid competitive position?” He said. Adam believes that accessing the genes of the semiconductor industry is the answer to both questions and crucial to the maturation of China’s chip industry. The genes must be used to strengthen the Chinese manufacturing and materials sectors. Du Shanshan, Senior Analyst, SEMI China SEMI Market Outlook: Fab Investment, Equipment and Materials Market ForecastsEmerging technologies have sparked explosive semiconductor industry growth, said Du Shanshan, a senior analyst at SEMI China. While the industry will see a slight recession in 2019 due to memory market softness, trade wars and other factors, it is on stable footing for the long run. At the same time, China continues to optimize its IC industry chain, and semiconductor design and manufacturing companies have gradually grown in number. Over the next decade, the average growth rate of China's production capacity is expected to exceed 10 percent. Richard Feldman, VP of Global Expositions and Events, SEMI Richard Feldman, vice president of Global Expositions and Events of SEMI headquarters, presented the new SEMI Asia semiconductor business development plan to members and called on companies in mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia to participate in SEMICON Europe to strengthen the influence of globalization.After the meeting, participants visited KINGSEMI Co., Ltd., Shenyang Piotech Co., Ltd, Shenyang SIASUN Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., Shenyang Fortune Precision Equipment Co., Ltd. and SKY Technology Development Co., Ltd. The event facilitated communications between upstream and downstream companies. SEMI China Member Day 2019 Group Photo Cherry Sun is a marketing manager at SEMI China.

Would you buy your next hotdog in parts, from un-coordinated suppliers? For example: Get the bun from a baker, the sausage from a butcher, mustard and/or ketchup and veggies from the nearest supermarket? If yes, you may find the sausage being too small, the veggies too big for the bun, and, when you finally finished adding mustard/ketchup and start eating, you may “enjoy” a cold sausage on a soggy bun!This “hotdog example” is just a very simple way to highlight the advantages of a well-coordinated semiconductor supply chain. What may be a few dollars and cents wasted in this hotdog purchase, can become millions of dollars lost to delays and inefficiencies during the roll-out of a new electronic system.Complexity is Increasing the ChallengeThe very innovative semiconductor industry is continuing to develop more complete and complex building blocks for electronic system solutions, with the intent of making our customers’ lives easier. However, every new technology takes increasingly more time for technical and business interfaces to mature before all the semiconductor supply chain members can serve customers in a smooth, efficient and cost-effective manner. In particular, coordination between design and manufacturing has always turned out to be in the critical path.SEMI, the manufacturers’ trade organization, and the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance, representing electronic design automation (EDA) tools vendors, developers of intellectual property (IP = ready-made building blocks for ICs) and IC design service providers, both recognized these challenges. Late in 2018, these two industry organizations decided to jointly address this painful, costly and often a very frustrating, yet critical path and became Strategic Association Partners, The goal is to establish a well-coordinated semiconductor supply chain.To make the value propositions of this partnership highly visible and demonstrate the first joint accomplishments, SEMI’s well-known SEMICON West conference and, in its first year, ES Design West, will be conveniently co-located in San Francisco’s Moscone Center from July 9 to 11, 2019. The synchronized schedules and geographic proximity of these events not only outlines the multi-faceted interdependence of manufacturing and design but encourages and enables conference attendees to do, what previously would have been viewed as “forming cross-border relationships.” It’s a new word now — please join the path to success and expand your network!Navigating SEMICON West and ES Design WestJust in case you are not yet planning to come to San Francisco early July, please check the Agendas-at-a-Glance for SEMICON West and ES Design West, to see how broad and valuable these parallel conferences are for your business. In addition, every customer, partner and semiconductor industry supplier can, from July 9 –11, walk from one conference section to the other, arrange face-to-face meetings, in dedicated meeting rooms, with representatives from both camps and discuss, from the first project planning step to the final production ramp-up, the many topics that need to be coordinated across parts or the entire supply chain to minimize delays and/or cost over-runs.Who Will Lead the Discussions?Conference attendees can, in addition to meeting many important supply chain partners face-to-face, hear about the latest technologies and market trends from key executives in our industry. Featured speakers are: David Pellerin, Head of Global Business Development, Amazon Web Services Lisa Su, President, and CEO, AMD Gary Dickerson, President, and CEO, Applied Materials Laurent Le Faucheur, Principal Engineer, Digital Signal Processing and Machine Learning, Arm, Ltd. Renee St. Amant, Ph.D., Research Engineer in Emerging Technologies and US Innovator of the Year, ARM Dean Kamen, President DEKA Research Development, Founder First and First Global Jeffrey Welser, Ph.D., Vice President and Lab Director, IBM Research-Almaden Dean Drako, President and CEO, IC Manage, Inc. Oreste Donzella, Sr. VP Chief Marketing Officer, KLA Corporation Prakash Narain, President, and CEO, Real Intent, Inc. Aart de Geus, Chairman, and Co-CEO, Synopsys, Inc. Manish Pandy, Fellow, Synopsys, Inc. Nate Baxter, General Manager, Development and Production Group, TEL US Like in previous years, SEMICON West and ES Design West offer a range of special features, addressing Smart Manufacturing, Smart Transportation, Smart MedTech and Smart Workforce development in dedicated pavilions as well as an AI Design Forum. Also, the many exhibitors from both camps will give conference attendees convenient opportunities to get to know new supply chain partners and/or refresh long-term business relationships. Search for the exhibitors you want to meet early July here. Questions to Ask for a Well-Coordinated Semiconductor Supply ChainIf I may, I would like to ask my many friends in the manufacturing camp to spend some time in the ES Design West section and ask the exhibitors a few questions, like: What can you do to get me to profit faster? To reduce development and unit cost? To improve yield, product quality, and reliability? When can you visit my team to discuss how your company can contribute to our goals?Vice versa, I would like to encourage my friends in the design camp to spend time in the SEMICON West section and ask exhibitors what their companies offer. When talking to manufacturers of IC, passive components or circuit boards, assembly and test houses, please ask very specific questions like: How can we help you reduce iterations between you and your customers? How can we help to improve IC test programs? How can we increase the throughput of your manufacturing equipment? How can we apply machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to minimize equipment downtime, improve yields and/or shorten production ramp-up?I can assure you that you’ll not only win great friends “across the border” but will be very impressed by the expertise you’ll find in the other camp and the willingness for and benefits of cross-border cooperation.I look forward to meeting you at SEMICON West and ES Design West. Also, if your schedule allows, mark your calendars for the June 12 MEPTEC Luncheon at SEMI in Milpitas, June 18 for the GSA’s Silicon Summit in Santa Clara and June 25 to 27 for the IMAPS SiP Conference in Monterey, CA. Hope to see you at one or all of these important events!Article originally published in 3D InCites. Herb Reiter is president of eda 2 asic Consulting.

In 2016, the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban-Ki Moon, stated “Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth. These are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment.” The SEMI Talent Forum, 2-3 May, 2019 in Bristol, UK will explore new opportunities and challenges of the digital era and the industry’s need for talent and the knowledge and skills in automation, computerization and digitization to drive tech innovation. Serena Brischetto of SEMI spoke with professor Michael Czerniak, Environmental Solutions Business Development Manager at Edwards, about how digitalization impacts all these key areas and will be instrumental in helping humanity shape the future. SEMI: The preservation of the global environment and the talent shortage are probably two of the most critical challenges confronting the semiconductor industry. What is the Edwards position on these issues? Czerniak: When I started in the industry, climate change was a new concept and scientific investigation was in its infancy. Now it is a well-understood phenomenon and its impacts will only be minimised by the implementation of better technologies, nearly all of which depend on digital technology and a talented workforce to drive new innovation. This is mission-critical not only to Edwards, but also to the digital industry, and indeed our common future.SEMI: Edwards celebrates 100 years of empowering innovative people. How do you help electronics shape the future and advance life standards? What is your secret recipe?Czerniak: Edwards plays a key role in enabling semiconductor manufacturers by making the electronic circuits, also commonly known as chips, on which the Digital Age is built. Our secret recipe is: nothing! We literally have no molecules at all, i.e. vacuum, which enables the intricate processes like plasma chemistry taking place. Those are the processes used to sequentially deposit and remove the thin films that constitute a modern semiconductor device. We also remove harmful and global-warming gas exhausts from these processes to minimise the environmental impact of this amazing industry.SEMI: What is stimulating about semiconductors and could you give us an example of how Edwards is helping remove harmful and global-warming gases?Czerniak: I work in environmental science both at Edwards and also here in Bristol in the School of Chemistry. My least-favorite gas is called CF4. Not only is it thousands of times more impactful as a global warming gas, but also it has an atmospheric lifetime of 50,000 years. Using abatement technology pioneered by Edwards, emissions of this gas into the atmosphere produced by this industry, have been reduced by up to 95%. That’s certainly something to make you feel good about after a day at work!SEMI: Edwards was honored with the SEMI Diversity and Inclusion award and also for the company's 100th anniversary at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) Europe in Milan in early April. What is particularly exciting about Edwards?Czerniak: Edwards is and always has been a very inclusive place to work, not least because it is a global company, reflecting the scope and geographical reach of the semiconductor industry as a whole. This provides a great variety of career paths locally at one of our many global manufacturing sites, or on a global scale, as we need to be where our customers are.SEMI: What are your expectations regarding the forum in Bristol, and for the future ahead? What is the status of the semiconductor workforce development scenario in your opinion? What can we do more?Czerniak: My main hope for the Talent Forum in Bristol is that the profile of the semiconductor industry will be raised amongst students considering their future career options to the point where they seriously consider applying for positions in this field. This applies to students from all disciplines as they are all needed to help develop the Digital Age, and more events like this can only help spread the message about the exciting opportunities and challenges available.Michael Czerniak started his professional career in the semiconductor industry with Philips, initially in the company’s UK R+D labs and subsequently in the fab in Nijmegen, Holland. He then held marketing roles at UK-based OEMs Cambridge Instruments, VSW and VG Semicon before joining Edwards 21 years ago. Michael has authored numerous published articles and patents, co-chairs a SEMI standards committee, participates in the IRDS, is a UK PFC expert on IPCC and has authored chapters on Vacuum and Environmental issues in the Semiconductor Manufacturing Handbook. Michael became a Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol in September 2018. Serena Brischetto is a marketing and communications manager at SEMI Europe.

MedTech, autonomous driving and other disruptive technologies will be in focus at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS Europe), 31 March - 2 April 2019 in Milan, Italy, as top European executives, researchers and academics gather to explore solutions to the region’s most pressing strategic, economic and social challenges. Ahead of ISS Europe, SEMI spoke with Mark Purdy, managing director and chief economist at Accenture Research, about Accenture’s Business Futures – four different future worlds set in 2025 based on the collision of trends across demographics, geopolitics, technology, and economics – and what these futures will mean for markets, workforces, operating models and industry value chains. SEMI: At ISS Europe in Milan, you will kick off the symposium highlighting market opportunities of the digital economy and how companies must adapt to competitive challenges. What inspired Accenture’s Business Futures four world scenarios?Purdy: The impetus for our Business Futures really stemmed from a certain dissatisfaction with current approaches to thinking about the future. We were struck by the following puzzle. First, there is no shortage of techniques for looking at the future, from forecasting to trends analysis to conventional scenarios. Second, most decision-makers have more or less the same access to information on global trends. Yet, time and again, we hear stories of businesses going bust or facing major challenges precisely because they failed to anticipate major changes in their industry.The paradox is that we have so much information, but so little real understanding of how the future actually unfolds. So that set us thinking about how to develop a new approach, based on a combination of detailed trend analysis, expert input and creative storytelling – which is what we call “Business Futures.” SEMI: Of demographics, geopolitics, technology, and economics, which trend do you see as particularly critical?Purdy: Actually, the essence of our Business Futures thinking is that it is the collision or combination of different trends – across economics, technology, demography, etc. – that shapes future outcomes, rather than individual trends per se. To a certain extent we tend to become fixated on specific trends and this can lead us astray or cause bad decision-making. For example, in the early 2000s many people saw very favorable trends in the U.S. economy – strong capital inflows, rapidly rising consumer spending, surging stock markets, and rising home ownership rates. Each trend in isolation looked strong and sustainable. But we failed to see how the combination of these trends was fueling risky financial innovation that would eventually lead to the financial crisis and great recession.Technology of course is a key trend. We are seeing tremendous advances in next-wave technologies such as robotics, machine learning, intelligent objects, 5G and virtualization. But we can only truly understand the impact of the technologies – and the business opportunities and challenges they create – by viewing them against a wider backdrop of changes in society, demography, geopolitics and economics. That is what Business Futures strives to do.SEMI: What will these different futures mean for markets, workforce, operating models and industry value chains?Purdy: There will be profound changes in how we think about all of these areas. Markets will become much more personalized and interactive. Technology will be increasingly integrated with humans, fueling innovation in areas such as personalized healthcare and preventative medicine. Our notions of distance and capacity will be upended, as new virtualized services enable new ways of reaching underserved customers. Consumers will become increasingly involved in the creation and design of products and services. New methods of innovation, powered by AI and virtualization, will come to the fore. New entrants will come from unexpected quarters, enabled by new technology. The upshot will be massive disruption and disintermediation of value chains across many sectors.SEMI: What can Europe do to prepare?Purdy: There are no simple answers, and the correct course will vary by country, but there are some basic things to get right. First, different countries need to understand their comparative advantage – for example, whether it is in services, new technologies, advanced manufacturing or resources – and work with the grain of these different futures. Second, countries need to ensure that they have the basic conditions – regulation, organizational adaptability, workforce flexibility, skills, and innovation infrastructure – to capitalize on the productive potential of new technologies such as AI, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Third, we need to create educational systems and workforce learning methods that emphasize creativity, problem solving and innovation – precisely the skills that will be most needed in an age of intelligent machines. SEMI: What are your expectations for the summit in Milan and for the future?Purdy: I’m very much looking forward to the ISS Europe Summit in Milan. As an economist, I believe we are at a pivotal moment in the semi-conductor industry, driven by waves of technological change and rising geopolitical frictions and uncertainty. With so many industry leaders and experts coming together at the Summit, I’m confident that our discussions will help point a way forward!Mark Purdy is managing director of economic research at Accenture Research. His research examines issues at the intersection of economics, technology and business. He has published widely in tier-1 media and specialised publications on topics such as China’s economy, emerging-market geographic strategy, inclusive economic growth, business futures and the economic impact of new technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he speaks on these topics at conferences and seminars around the world.Serena Brischetto is a marketing and communications manager at SEMI Europe.

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.

I really don’t know clouds at all. – Joni MitchellThe semiconductor industry is finally on the cusp of joining the cloud revolution. The cloud has offered the promise of greatly expanded resources for years, but adoption has been slow due to lingering concerns. The biggest contributing factor for the concern over moving from on-premise EDA servers to cloud-based servers is, surprisingly, the rise of third-party IP. In the old days, if you were developing 100 percent of your own IP, and if you put that IP on a public cloud, and it somehow leaked out, well shame on you. That would certainly be bad for business. It might hurt your reputation a bit. But these days, with so much third-party IP being embedded into chips, if that third-party IP leaks out, that’s a lawsuit-fest in the making.Consequently, semiconductor companies now have even more incentive to protect IP with advanced security. Surprisingly, cloud-based security is far, far better than on-premise security. Why? Because keeping customers’ data secure is the central mission of cloud service suppliers, so they’ve developed a rich set of security tools to protect the data that’s entrusted to them by their clients. In many ways, you can maintain much better security in the cloud than you can with on-premise tools. Image credit: Markus Spiske temporausch.com from Pexels Amazon Web Services: Exemplifying the benefits of cloud computingTake Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an example. (Note: AWS is not the only vendor in the cloud space, but it’s one I’m very familiar with.)AWS has developed the concept of security groups – firewalls that you throw up around any network interface to allow only specific traffic into that secured network. You can do that for just one server or for a fleet of servers, in just seconds. Most on-premise server networks won’t let you work that quickly, or as easily, or with such fine control because most such networks lack the security tools to do this.In addition, AWS allows you to encrypt every bit of data stored on and flowing through its cloud-based storage systems. You can encrypt data at rest in on-premise storage but it’s a lot harder to encrypt data flying through the on-premise network. Amazon’s Elastic File System (EFS), a managed NFS file service, offers the ability to easily encrypt NFS traffic on the wire, a difficult feat at best with an on-premise solution.AWS built-in encryption key-management service can rotate encryption keys automatically. The cloud also allows you to have key policies that are easy to implement and maintain.Internal corporate networks rely heavily on perimeter firewalls for security. Perimeter defense just cannot deliver sufficient security against determined hackers and everyone realizes this. We’ve built big, open, on-premise networks that are just not well-suited to implementing adequate security protocols. Trying to retrofit these network architectures with additional security is time-consuming and costly, and it hurts engineering productivity. Moving to the cloud gives you a greenfield opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the past.Continuing with AWS as an example, here are some additional advantages of EDA in the cloud: AWS provides physical security that’s far above and beyond on-premise security. It doesn’t publish the physical locations of its data centers. It also has professional security staff 24/7, keycard access, and additional security features that far exceed typical on-premise physical security. AWS automatically manages security patches and access controls for their managed services such as database services. AWS gives you plenty of security tools to automate security processes, audits, and so forth to protect your data. AWS gives you so much flexibility that you can get yourself in trouble in you are not careful. If you want, you can create the same sorts of security holes that already exist with on-premise networks. You shouldn’t of course, but you can if you’re not thoughtful about things. You just need to hire the right people to implement and maintain your cloud security.Here are five very big differences between AWS (cloud-based) and on-premise server networking: Elasticity: Cloud-based systems enable you to scale up in minutes. That ability has pluses and minuses depending on how disciplined you are. On the plus side, you can quickly grow your EDA infrastructure as big as you want and then shrink it back down when you no longer need the additional capacity. All you need to do is tell the cloud service that you need more capacity and it will bring that extra capacity online for you in minutes – and will charge you for it. (That’s the minus side.) When you’re done, you can turn off the extra capacity (and stop paying for it) with the same speed. If you want to provision more EDA capacity for your on-premise network, you’ll need to beg, borrow, or steal existing capacity from someone else on your network, or you can order more servers, get the vendor to build and ship them, install them in your server room, provision them, and bring them online. That will take months. Fault tolerance: On-premise networks rely on large, monolithic service architectures, which saddle EDA vendors with more than 30 years of technical debt. The cloud operates on a different model, one that’s based on containers and microservices. This is inherently a redundant, fault-tolerant computing model if you write your code correctly. The difference between redundancy in the cloud and in on-premise networks is night and day. There’s no comparison. No private networks can match the available and growing redundancy of cloud systems, which have redundant servers inside of a data center and redundant data centers in multiple, worldwide geographic locations, which protects your data from natural and man-made disasters. Network segmentation: Many semiconductor developers have several design centers distributed around the world and there may be IP in use on a project that cannot be shared with certain geographic locations either by law or by contract. Cloud networks are already set up with automated tools for network segmentation that can enforce geography-specific rules through VPCs (Virtual Private Clouds), which are easy to set up. VPCs allow you to set up subnets with restrictions based on routing tables so that IP management and control become highly automated. Removal of single points of failure: The typical EDA grid configuration has several built-in single points of failure. For example, a central job dispatcher generally runs on one single node. If that node dies, all EDA work halts. The same is true for EDA license servers and for configuration-management and version-control servers. Again, because cloud networks are based on the microservices concept, the cloud simply doesn’t need to have the same single-point-of-failure vulnerabilities that on-premise networks have. On-premise networksTo get these same advantages with on-premise networks, the grid architecture must fundamentally be changed, starting with the replacement of NFS. EDA systems need to replace huge, monolithic file systems specifically developed for EDA with object storage. That's a tall order – one that requires the rewriting of fundamental assumptions that serve as EDA software’s foundation.In the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, small EDA startups appeared to fill gaps in the offerings of the large EDA players. If they succeeded and grew, they’d eventually be gobbled up by a larger EDA vendor. That flowering of EDA startups seems to have damped down. The market has really matured.Next wave of EDA startups to offer cloud-first toolsGoing forward, I expect the next wave of EDA startups will be offering cloud-first tools that are not burdened by three decades of technical debt. They’ll be able to architect their tools specifically for the cloud.We’re starting to see this happen. For example, Metrics, a Canadian EDA startup, offers a pay-by-the-minute, cloud-based simulator and verification manager. Although one job on one cloud server might run slower than a monolithic simulator running an on-premise server, Metrics has architected its tools so that you can throw more servers at the problem, allowing you to run all of your jobs at once. Here, multiple simulation jobs running concurrently on multiple servers will ultimately finish faster than running the jobs serially on one slightly faster on-premise simulator.That’s the kind of innovation that we’re going to see. That’s the future of EDA.Derek Magill is executive director and president at HPC Pros. Derek has 20 years of experience supporting semiconductor engineering functions. His main focus has been in system architecture and technical management, but over the years he has been involved with technologies such as EDA licensing, ClearCase, HPC architecture, IP management and engineering software support. Derek spent 15 years at Texas Instruments in various technical and managerial roles. He is currently a senior manager, IT at Qualcomm managing the Global License Infrastructure team as well as the lead technical architect for the company's engineering cloud activities. The Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, is the central voice to communicate and promote the value of the semiconductor design ecosystem as a vital component of the global electronics industry. As an international association of companies providing goods and services throughout the semiconductor design ecosystem, it provides a forum to address technical, marketing, economic and legislative issues affecting the entire industry. The ESD Alliance also stages events that promote networking, learning and collaboration among member companies. To learn more about the ESD Alliance and how to join the group, visit www.esd-alliance.org or contact Bob Smith at [email protected].

Kyushu, the third largest island in Japan, is home to the semiconductor production bases of integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) with world-class cutting-edge technology. SONY, Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and Nissan are among the sector’s shining stars, though a host of other IDMs tied to the supply chains of other major enterprises have also set root in Kyushu. Collectively, the companies earned Kyushu the name Silicon Island of Japan.Kyushu’s flourishing IDM industry sprouted from favorable tax and other government policies that reduced semiconductor production costs to levels lower than elsewhere in Japan. Once the IC producers had established bases, equipment and materials companies naturally followed, leading to the influx of many parts manufacturers. Together, they came to Kyushu, one after another, to make the island a magnet for manufacturing. And so it was to Kyushu that a SEMI China delegation travelled for a meeting at TEL’s factory in Kumamoto to learn more about the secrets to the rapid growth of the island’s semiconductor industry and promote cooperation between Chinese and Japanese enterprises. Underscoring the rise of the Silicon Island of Japan, China will soon become TEL’s largest market, said Masami Akimoto, Chairman of Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited, speaking at the event. Masami Akimoto hopes for support from SEMI China.The island of 12 million people contributes to the growth of the global semiconductor industry, expected to reach USD 500 billion in size in 2019 as China’s semiconductor sector, fueled in part by government-backed investment funds, continues its rapid expansion. Despite the gains, China still lags other regions in advanced manufacturing, said Lung Chu, president of SEMI China, which is doing its part to draw more advanced manufacturing to the region through its SIIP platform. The initiative encourages pan-regional cooperation with China’s semiconductor industry to promote free trade, open markets, technology innovation and IP protection – all to help China better integrate with the global semiconductor industry. SEMI China President Lung Chu(L) issues visit memorial to Masami Akimoto(R), Chairman of Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited. Chicken shall be led by the HenUnlike other regions with comprehensive semiconductor industries, Kyushu’s is primarily focused on production and assembly, with more than 200 manufacturers of semiconductor equipment and parts.SEMI China Delegation at Tokyo Electron Kyushu LimitedTEL built its first factory in Kumamoto, a city covered by volcanic ash in the center of Kyushu, 34 years ago. Today, TEL every month produces 80 to 90 sets of equipment, each consisting of, on average, over 400 thousand parts that must be certified and authorized by TEL before delivery to its module manufacturers and assembly into complete machines. Having blossomed over the past few decades, the island’s supply chain now supplies TEL with all its equipment parts. SEMI China Delegation at Fajita WorksTEL supplier Fajita Works, a high-precision plate metal manufacturer founded in 1945, is emblematic of other companies in the Kyushu supply chain. It keeps a low public profile as it serves several longtime customers and earns ardent loyalty from its workers, an ethos reflected in the change next January of its slog from “Only One” to “Great company, Great life.”Quality is the life of the enterpriseLong before the rise of its legendary automobile and consumer electronics companies, Japan was known for inferior, counterfeited products, labeled “Made In USA” and shipped to the United States by more than 100 factories. The net effect was to shrink and commoditize American markets. The tide in Japan’s product quality and stained reputation began to turn in the 1980s, when Japan’s semiconductor industry began to produce memory with an error rate 27 times lower than its U.S. competitors, giving Japan an upper hand in quality that it would never relinquish. SEMI China Delegation at HORIBAKyushu-based flowmeter supplier HORIBA, among the many Japanese companies famous for their product quality, ships 38 percent of its products into the automotive market and 27 percent into the semiconductor sector. Cleanliness is as vital a part of the company’s culture as quality. Each depends on the other, with fine detail held to the highest importance. On its visit to HORIBA, the SEMI China delegation, passing by an office area before entering the factory, sighed at the sight of the spotless, neatly kept furniture and workspace: They had never seen an office so sparkling clean. HORIBA’s success is rooted in immaculate offices, factories and the company’s motto “Enjoy innovation and pay close attention to product quality.”After Kumamoto sustained heavy damage during a 2016 earthquake, HORIBA workers returned rocks scattered by temblor to their original position, knowing that order is critical to lean, efficient manufacturing and that, indeed, “the devil is in the details.” SEMI China Delegation in Kumamoto City Full confidence in the exploration of Chinese marketConsumer electronics stalwarts Sony and Panasonic feature semiconductor factories in Kagoshima, the southernmost city in Kyushu and Japan, though rumor had it two years ago that Panasonic planned to pull out. The Panasonic plant, which provides batteries for Tesla, remains. The Sony facility produces image sensors for the iPhone.Semiconductor equipment maker ULVAC, SEMI China’s most important strategic partner, is also based in Kagoshima. During the delegation’s visit to the company, Lung Chu noted that while China is the world’s largest semiconductor market, the region meets just 13 percent of domestic chip demand. Stressing that ULVAC can play a crucial role in helping China become a bigger player, he expressed admiration for ULVAC’s professionalism along with hope that it will maintain its rapid growth and leverage SEMI resources to catalyze rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G technologies in China and rise into the top 10 of global equipment manufacturers. SEMI China President Lung Chu (L) issues visit memorial to ULVAC Kyushu President and CEO Kenji Yamaguchi ULVAC Kyushu president and CEO Kenji Yamaguchi made clear the company’s interest in Lung Chu’s insights into Chinese semiconductor industry while underscoring its core competency of producing semiconductors for flat panel displays. The Kyushu Factory of ULVAC is full of vitality and market competitiveness. SEMI China Delegation at ULVAC EBARA, a precision machinery company located in Kumamoto, has manufactured chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) equipment for over 20 years and delivered nearly 2,400 mechanical polishing machines worldwide. While the company expects to ship 50 sets per year to China starting next year, it has the capacity to deliver 20 sets per month, enough to meet demand of Chinese semiconductor makers. SEMI China Delegation at EBARAThe most telling takeaway from the SEMI China delegation’s visit to the Kyushu: Japan ranks number one worldwide in research and development (R D) investment as a proportion of GDP and is also at the top in the percentage of R D funds controlled by private enterprises. The outsize investment strategy has enabled Japan to maintain its hold as one of the world’s top technology innovators.Like Sakurajima, the famed Kyushu volcano, the SEMI China delegation will continue to harness its forces to build relationships with the island’s semiconductor supply chain as it works to develop win-win pan-regional relationships and foster the growth of China’s semiconductor industry. Best view of Sakurai volcano Gang Yao is a marketing director at SEMI China.