Welcome 2022, and perhaps, end of road for sharpshooter!

2022 is here! However, the year 2021 has not been memorable for me, personally! I have lost my eldest sister, Ms. Shukla Mukerjee (nee Chakraborty) to the dreaded cancer in 2021!!

With my sisters.

On Aug. 31, 2021, in Kolkata (Calcutta), I was woken up by my wife around 5am, who informed me that my eldest sister, Ms. Shukla Mukerjee, was no more! She had been suffering from cancer for nearly one month. In fact, the doctors had advised us to take her back home as there was no hope! We rushed to the hospital to see her a final time. That’s the abiding, enduring memory from 2021, for me. I really miss my Didi (elder sister) very much!

In 2021, we also lost Shankar Ghosh or Keshtoda, my mentor, his brother, Subhash Ghosh or Bachchu, and earlier, Arun Chakravorty or Buluda, a very dear brother-in-law. We also lost Deependra Jaiswal this year, one of my childhood friends. All of these losses, due to Covid-19, are ir-repairable!

Future closing?
How will 2022 play out? Friends, right now, I have very little idea. Also, I think, this is perhaps, the end of the road for me! I am getting on in age, and slowing down. My eyesight is showing signs of fatigue. Besides, India has never been a country for old men and semiconductors! 😉! I will still try and add articles. Please note: In future, I will write, giving preference to events, and to those who can take care of me!

Many years ago, I qualified in Indian Combined Defense Services (CDS) exams, and was summoned to Bhopal for a physical entrance test. I was overjoyed, as I wanted to be a sharpshooter! My mother, Mrs. Bina Chakraborty, was very much against it! Back then, my Didi (Shukla Mukerjee) was visiting, with her very young daughter Jigim (Nandini Mukerjee) for Durga Puja. However, luck played out very differently! I could not qualify for the armed forces.

My fascination for an army life actually spilled over to the opposite sex too! 😉 During Durga Puja at Jagat Taran Golden Jubilee School, Allahabad, I was standing with friends near the school verandah. Suddenly, a very cute-looking girl came up to me and asked: Excuse me, are you in the army? I politely replied, no! My friends were flabbergasted! 😉

The very next year, Keshtoda (Shankar Ghosh), pushed the pen in my hands, and asked me to write a book on English poetry, covering William Wordsworth, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy, John Keats, and Gerard Hopkins, for students of BA-II, University of Allahabad. The book was co-written by three others. My name was spelt incorrectly! However, that was my transition from the ‘gun or sword to the pen’! Thank you, Keshtoda!

That reminds me: some people actually call(ed) me a sharpshooter! This is perhaps, because of my ability to write articles very fast during live presentations, and present them just as the talks have concluded! Well, I have simply observed any ‘object’ (any speech, of any kind, by anyone) — whether still or moving — and tried my best to nail it on the spot! That’s been my forte, all along! In cricket, a game popular across India, this activity can be termed as a no-one-moved shot, or, rattle of timber (stumps being broken)! Some may have noticed all this, and some didn’t! Those that did, realized there was something really special going on! 😉

At conferences and events, I am very well known globally for completing writing the articles as soon as a session ends. When this was pointed out to me, I was not even bothered with all the rage it was (and is) creating. And, I am still not bothered about it one bit! I just wanted to, and still want, go out and play! 😉 Also, I don’t even like carrying over any article to another day, as it’s just a sheer waste of time!

If I have succeeded to some extent, then, it’s good news for all, isn’t it? Why, just ask my friend, Scott Stevens at SEMI, USA! Or, Veeresh Shetty at Siemens EDA (Mentor)! Or, Sri Peruvemba and Ms. Ana Tackett at Display Week, USA. Or, even Thomas George at Cybermedia, closer to home! Alfred Cheng, Claudius Chan, and John Ng, at Global Sources, Hong Kong, are equally similar in every way. As are Romy Udanga in Manila and New Zealand, Kevin Lau in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, and Ms. Kitty Wong in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. These folks have stood by me right through, and I, with them. My thanks to all these great people.

May I also express my heartfelt gratefulness to all the lovely ladies who have been great supporters of me and my work right through. There are way too many of these ladies, so, I will not take any names, but do know this: I am, and will remain, very grateful and highly obliged to all of these sweet ladies. My kisses and hugs for all of them! 🙂

This also reminds me that some folks are/were apprehensive to approach me, as they feel or felt I have just too much knowledge, especially about semiconductors. Friends, please understand: I am not an engineer or a scientist. I am a very simple man, who loves cricket, Bruce Lee, and semiconductors. And, I have always consider myself to be a student, especially, in semiconductors, as there are way too many things that I do not know about at all! If you think it is worth, please feel free to get in touch with me.

Up to now, I haven’t heard many inspiring words from anyone, in India, apart from those mostly in semiconductors and EDA, about things that I write and speak about. Why? That’s something I have always wondered! What I do know: people are/were scared to speak with me, thinking, I knew a lot! Again, I have explained myself above. Also, I find several ladies leaving comments on my posts and even liking them. It’s a clear and evident sign of gender dominance! Women have always been never afraid to say what they feel, and that’s worth appreciating. Kudos, ladies! 🙂

Receiving my only award from India, in 2016.

About semiconductors!
What do I think of the global semiconductor industry? To start, sometimes, I wish India could have done more in this area! India surely missed the chance to be a ‘wafer fab’ nation back in 2007-08. The recent announcements may not bring the desired results, with the Chips Acts already in place in the USA and Europe. Don’t expect any Asian giant to back off anytime soon! Any other type of fab coming up in India is of really no interest. I’m way too deep into the <5nm and <2nm technologies. Good luck to those looking to start any fab in India.

I still recall a semiconductor executive from a leading company laughing at me, when I told him about the work TSMC was doing, back in 2003. And that, they needed to watch out! Back then, TSMC was still up and coming. Look, where it is today! Well done folks at TSMC!!

Further, the India Semiconductor Association was formed in 2005. It has since changed name to IESA. Again, name changes don’t work, unless hard work is going on in the ground. People associated with the original body have probably moved on to new ventures, and dropped out of sight. Back in 2009, Malcolm Penn of Future Horizons, UK, had come down to Bangalore for a semiconductor event. Cybermedia tried doing an event, but backed out. Later, I found the decision was probably correct, as there was nothing much happening on the ground.

Some folks asked me why India doesn’t have a fab? Why do we always seek foreign participation? I don’t have any answers! Not a single large Indian house came forward in the past to try and build one here. Perhaps, no one will, except in a small way. Having a big player come in will see chips built in India, but, they will be owned by the big player and the country of its origin, and not by India, or an Indian company! A few friends joked about how Pradeep’s Point won so many awards, and this was followed by Pradeep’s Techpoints, and even more awards. However, that did not translate into any success for India. Once more, I don’t have any answer! 🙂

It’s similar to a dialog from Shah Rukh Khan’s movie, Swades, where an actor says something like: a bulb giving light to someone’s else’s house! Yes, it’s really great winning a bagful of awards from all over the world! But getting only one from India? This, in a country where there is hardly any talk ever about semiconductors! The only award I have so far received in India (see photo), was given by Indywood Entertainment, in Hyderabad, 2016.

A few folks felt the Indian semiconductor industry was being pushed (rushed and projected) like the IT industry. Perhaps, they are right! Semiconductors is vastly different from IT, and there should be no comparison. Visiting several fabs over the years, I’ve witnessed R&D for new processes, materials, nodes, etc. Will we see that happen in India? Again, I have no answer. Can anyone take on CoWoS? I haven’t even heard anyone talk about materials in India, either!

As for the global semiconductor industry itself, the industry is currently stuck in things such as IoT and automotive, and mobile, and now, artificial intelligence. Guys, I’ve been hearing and writing about all of these since 2012! You really need to get a kick-on from somewhere else. Haven’t people heard of YOLOv5 (You Only Look Once, version 5), 4D printing, femtosecond projection two-photon lithography, etc.? Why can’t you try talking about such futuristic stuff, as you did earlier, back in 2008 or 2009?

For that matter, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) from Cornami is very much a new technology that people aren’t even talking about. Except, Dr. Wally Rhines, CEO of Cornami, whom I have grown to admire! FHE is quantum-secure privacy-preserving computing on encrypted data sets. Dr. Rhines was recently honored with the prestigious Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award by Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), USA. Dr. Rhines has been highly influential in the global semiconductor industry for nearly 50 years now. My heartiest congratulations to you, dear sir.

My dear friends, please continue to march forward, gracefully, breaking down all barriers. Best wishes, and may you be blessed with lots of luck in the times ahead. Till we meet again! Au revoir! 😉