SIA
Policies and partnerships needed to support semiconductor startups
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), USA, organized a seminar on: Encouraging innovation: Policies and partnerships needed to support semiconductor startups.
Startups are a critical part of the semiconductor ecosystem, driving growth and innovation in the industry and exploring new frontiers of chip technology. Unfortunately, startups in the semiconductor sector face significant challenges and barriers to entry. Creative and ambitious policy solutions and expanded public-private collaboration are needed to help semiconductor startups grow and strengthen.
SIA, and Dan Armbrust from Silicon Catalyst—the world’s only incubator and accelerator for startups focused on semiconductor solutions— had a discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing semiconductor startups. They looked at the actions needed to reinforce and expand this important part of the semiconductor ecosystem.
John Neuffer, SIA President, said that we represent two-thirds of the global chip industry. Startups have been an essential part of the ecosystem. There are barriers to entry. We have to overcome them.
Dan Armburst said that company valuations and profitability has seen eight of the top 20 market caps in technology. It is the third most profitable industry. AI is profoundly hardware limited, and it’s the next gold rush. There are essential assets in a geopolitical sea change away from globalism.
Surge of investments are underway. There are CHIPS Act(s) in various countries and regions. VCs are wading back in as there are green shoots in deep tech and specialty funds. We have reasonable M&A and IPO opportunities for startups. Chiplets and advanced packaging can be advantageous for startups.
Semiconductor startups face daunting challenges. There is escalating cost of innovation, with prototyping access and costs. Sustained decline of VC for semiconductors is also there. Achieving product-market fit remains challenging. We have diminished customer appetite to award design wins to startups.
More research will not lead to commercialization, unless, we continue to build startup playbook. We must aggressively implement CHIPS Act investments for prototyping and startup funds with a sense of urgency. We can supplement with existing government programs and funding streams. We need to strengthen the startup ecosystem for translation to industry.
How it all started?
In 1990s, foundry business model was led by TSMC in Taiwan. In 2010s, we had Moore’s Law slowdown, rise of AI, and emergence of Chinese threat, and pricing power. In 2020s, pandemic chips shortages, CHIPS Act(s), China’s access restrictions, and GenAI are in action.
We have been witnessing consolidation and concentration in each segment. These are across chip design costs, DRAM, logic/foundry platforms, and equipment market. Also, scaling is in trouble, as the evidence of Moore’s Law slowdown. We need a very solid roadmap for next decade. We now need CMOS roadmap to <1.0 nm, along with the advances in EUV lithography, advanced packaging, and more backside power distribution.
Today, system companies, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Cisco, Huawei, along with IBM, Samsung, etc., are becoming silicon houses. China export controls and trade restrictions are stressing globalism. VC has also moved past semiconductors to software and services over the years. Investment has been around $6.5 billion, only 2.5 percent of $244.5 billion, in 2022.
VC investment and model
Venture capital investments in AI/ML have escalated. Majority has been in vertical apps. We had the first wave of domain specific accelerators / architectures for AI, largely around edge/cloud. There have been some investments in optical/photonics, in-memory, and neuromorphic chips.
Today’s VC model at a glance suggests goal is return 3-5x or 20-30 percent annual IRR over the 10-year life of the fund. Invest fund in 20-25 companies, which represent 0.1-1 percent of deal flow. Hits-driven business means, we need one-three firms to return 10-100x of investment. VCs are compensated 2 percent of fund annually for opex, and retain 20 percent (carry) of profits. Each startup funding round is lead by a new VC that sets the valuation and investing terms for others. For existing investors, exercising pro-rata rights is key. VCs raise follow-up funds based on track record of prior funds.
VC model dictates where investments are made, and why semiconductors struggle. Investments in semiconductors are less attractive, compared to software and services. Higher capital is required, with longer time to revenue ramp. It has higher innovation failure rates, and longer time to liquidity, and lower returns.
Semiconductors requires extensive and specific due diligence, a skill mostly atrophied. Product-market fit is hard to predict based on early measures of traction and adoption. Incubator and accelerator services have helped startups in other arenas, apart from semiconductors. He said Silicon Catalyst accelerator model is tuned to semiconductor startup needs. Silicon Catalyst services are available from the industry’s ecosystem.
What’s coming up?
Within semiconductors, we have materials/process changes, new materials and devices, new equipment and processes, and EDA for emerging technologies, are coming up in the future.
For substrates, we have SiC, silicon-on-insulator, GaN, compound semiconductors, etc. For wafer fabs, there are patternable materials, planarization materials, gases, cleaning solutions, etc. Device performance has 2D semiconductors, graphene, diamond, ferroelectrics, spintronics, etc. Interconnects have metals, metal oxides, metal barriers, carbon nanotubes, isolation materials, dielectrics, etc. Packaging materials have solders, ceramics, encapsulates, thermal management materials, insulators, etc.
CHIPS Act
CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law in August 2022. Innovation gap is about the CHIPS Act R&D provisions. Gaps are in prototyping at scale, scale-up business model, startup funding, and government-agency coordination.
CHIPS Act Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC) was also set up later. IAC R&D gaps recommendations includes:
- Establish easily accessible prototyping capabilities in multiple facilities and enact the
ability to rapidly try out CMOS+X at a scale that is relevant to industry. - Create a semiverse digital twin.
- Establish chiplets ecosystem and 3D heterogeneous integration platform for chiplet
innovation and advanced packaging. - Build an accessible platform for chip design and enable new EDA tools that treat 3D
(monolithic or stacked) as an intrinsic assumption. - Create a nurturing ecosystem for promising startups.
CHIPStart UK is an example of a fast-moving government-led initiative. Last year, 11 startups were admitted for 9-month program. In Feb. 2024, there was call for second cohort applications.
Recommendations
It is recommended that USA executes what’s been authorized and appropriated with the CHIPS Act. Accelerate access to affordable prototyping capabilities for startups through the various CHIPS Act initiatives. This includes: NSTC for silicon, NAPMP for packaging, and Manufacturing USA for digital twin. DoD Commons (Hubs) for “lab to fab” – 8 regional hubs were launched in Sept. 23. We also have to Implement NSTC’s Innovation fund at minimum of $0.5B consistent with IAC and SCSP recommendations.
We can enhance existing SBIR/STTR and DIU programs with fast-track entrepreneur lane to 3x funding across NSF/DoE/DARPA/DoD/NIH. Leverage ongoing government initiatives by ensuring that startup investment and procurement are included (e.g., DoD NDIS (National Defense Industrial Strategy) and SBICCT (Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies)), and DoE Office of Science (BES) and AMO funding and loan programs.
We can complement all this by attracting further private investment. Increase corporate VC (CVC) investments by 2x to provide signals to VC for early-stage startups with innovative technologies, especially in materials, metrology, processes and EDA.
We must commission the OSTP to establish means of collaboration with allied nations’ CHIPS Acts and ensure coordination across government agencies on initiatives that support startups. Increase the number of “hard tech” and specialty fund VCs by identifying and addressing gaps in incentives and policies via a neutral technology-based organization (e.g., MITRE, SRI, CoC – Council on Competitiveness). Enhance the capital gains provisions for entrepreneurs and investors that have long liquidity timelines (QSBS – Qualified Small Business Stock for capital gains).
Regarding EDA startups, they face similar problems to semiconductor companies. EDA historically has had significant startup and M&A activity. That has been a significant contributor to how the EDA industry has grown. There are major opportunities in chiplets and advanced packaging enablement, moving forward, and the use of AI to improve designer productivity.
Regarding agencies response to targeted and augmented SBIRS, he added that DoD and DARPA have modified and offered funding along these lines.
New trajectories for memory and storage: SRC-SIA
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) hosted today the fifth episode of decadal plan for semiconductors — new trajectories for memory and storage. David Issacs, VP, Government Affairs, SIA, welcomed everyone.
Sean Eilert, Fellow, Emerging Memory & Memory System Optimization Technology Pathfinding Group, Micron presented the keynote. The society’s production and use of data and information is exploding. Trends such as silicon wafer supply, memory and storage capacity, memory bandwidth, and energy, are some limiting factors to future compute. Domain specific accelerators are becoming mainstream. It increases the pressure on memory and storage subsystems, drives need for higher memory and storage bandwidth, etc.
Today, information storage and production are exploding. Society is increasingly shaped by stored information. Memory bandwidth limits system performance. There is a need to alleviate memory bandwidth challenges, especially for the specialized accelerators. We are scaling up from data lakes to data oceans. New breeds of storage technology must be created to meet the emerging need for immense available capacity at minimal cost in enterprise data centers.
Latency, bandwidth, and capacity are all important parameters in memory landscape. Energy is also important to read, write, and keep. Memory and storage were inherited from HDD days. From 2013-2017, the improved HBM interface brought bandwidth at limited capacities. 2021 and beyond, there is near memory compute. Computational storage brings compute closer to storage for in-situ processing on massive amounts of static data. We are reducing energy and increasing bandwidth with near-memory compute.
Emerging memories like CXL standard is blurring lines between storage and memory, enabling diverse set of domain-specific accelerators. There is first commercial appearance of merged memory and storage access protocols with acceleration. Move to domain-specific accelerators will place increased demand on memory subsystems, bandwidth, and energy.
Memory and storage demands in data centers continue to grow, while scaling slows. Business and ecosystem challenges are as big as technological problems. Suppliers have to get technology off the ground. New models are now emerging. Compute-near-data has performance advantages, such as energy efficiency, latency, bandwidth, etc. New access paradigms are emerging. There are merged memory and storage, and accelerator interfaces (CXL), and byte-addressable storage.
Challenges and opportunities
Thee was a panel discussion. Ms. Heike Riel, IBM Fellow, Head Science & Technology, IBM Research, was the moderator.
The panelists were Ms. Carolyn R. Duran, VP, Data Platforms Group, Engineering Manager, Memory and I/O Technologies, Intel, David Pellerin, Head, Worldwide Business Development, Infotech/Semiconductors Industry, AWS, Steffen Hellmold, Senior VP, Business Development for Data Storage, Twist Bioscience, Ms. Jing (Jane) Li, Eduardo D. Glandt Faculty Fellow and Associate Prof., Electrical and Systems Engineering, and Computer and Information Science, The University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Jesse Mee, Acting Mission Lead for Pervasive Technologies, AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate.
David Pellerin, AWS, spoke about app drivers for memory and storage. We need to think about component and system availability, reliability, security, cost, performance, etc., in completely different ways than legacy IT. That means, re-inventing everything. We need to look from edge to cloud, and beyond.
HPC and advanced analytics require larger ratio of memory to compute. EDA is is one example of many. Robotics, AI, and autonomous vehicle development generate 4TB per hour of data that goes through complex analysis. ML frameworks are also changing quickly. AWS has innovations in storage. It uses nitro silicon for storage management.
Ms. Carolyn R. Duran, Intel, spoke about memory’s grand challenges. There are demand drivers such as AI/ML/DL, and edge/network. Key challenges include use case/business model fragmentation, power, cost, bandwidth to capacity ratio, software enabling, and security and reliabilty.
There are manufacturing device opportunities, such as SRAM shrink, alternative memories, integration/construction package innovation. Architecture-based opportunities such as process-in or near memory, compression, software optimization, etc. Finally, DRAM improvements, such as next-generation DDR, GDDR, LPDDR, HBM, etc. There can be in- or on-package memories, and custom solutions.
Steffen Hellmold talked about DNA data storage. We are scaling up from data lakes to data oceans. New breeds of storage must be created to the emerging need for immense available capacity at minimal cost. Archive storage is fastest growing storage tier.
DNA data storage is the ultimate answer for data storage scaling. We can archive storage growth, and new workloads drive demand for new storage solutions. We can re-invent archive storage, and need to find value in computing on cold data, besides hot/warm data. Energy and sustainability concerns are on the rise.
Ms. Jing (Jane) The University of Pennsylvania, spoke about memory-as-a-service. Currently, memory is used as a device. We advocate memory-as-a-service. We can fetch useful data, only move when needed, and there will be high throughput and high goodput. Memory can be designed to be app-aware, as a processor. There can be rich and flexible memory functions.
How do we get there? We need to add a service layer into the memory. There will be host of data that is app-aware. There will be rich and flexible new abstractions, and O(n) complexity.
Dr. Jesse Mee, AFRL Space Vehicles, spoke about space electronics technologies. It can develop game-changing components and evaluation procedures to enable some revolutionary AF and IC space capabilities. It develops space electronics for next-generation warfighting capabilities. Advanced radiation-hard memory development efforts include SRAM-based DDR3, STT MRAM, SONOS NAND flash, etc.
There is huge growth in sensor data rates, coupled with limited communication bandwidth to ground. It has proliferated mega-constellations at LEO, and the pivot to autonomous operations. Space enterprise vision is driving new objectives. There are challenges in commercial and radiation-hard electronics.
Sean Eilert, Micron said NVMs performance is inferior to SRAMs. We should not ignore SRAM. We can use it later, as needed. Multiple upticks are required. Ms. Carolyn R. Duran, Intel said emerging memories are there. It takes about a decade to bring in a brand new memory. Something will happen in this space.
Eilert added that Micron pulled out of 3D-XPoint. Most industry apps are locked into NAND and DRAM buckets. With NV storage, there was NOR flash and EPROM. We have the entire history of NVM. There may be variant of DRAM with HBM. We have spent lot of time with researchers at SRC. New memory technology uses high-performance logic. 3D stacking is becoming a reality. Apple MacBook Pros come with lot of memory. Systems are evolving with new memory technologies.
Dr. Jesse Mee, AFRL, said they work a lot with MRAM in space. Space typically follows commercial. We can see advantages of deploying new technology in space. As for energy requirements, David Pellerin, AWS, said it is important for customers to drive efficiency. We have goals for renewable by 2025 and carbon neutral by 2040.
Future
Ms. Duran said in future, we are looking at energy efficiency. We can pull memory only when we need it. We are working towards that in many different ways. Pellerin added he agreed with memory abstraction. We need to find ways for hardware developers to move faster.
Eilert noted that the mobile architecture grab cache line as a device. Data centers are going to look like mobile architectures. There can be surgical access to data. Dr. Jesse Mee said there can be clusters in space for purpose-built, rad-hard memories working with commercial memories.
Semiconductors enabling electric vehicle (EV) revolution
Semiconductors is at the forefront of leading growth in vehicle electrification. Chip requirements of electric vehicles are much higher than for cars powered by gas. Most market analysts forecast electric vehicle market to register CAGR between 25-40 percent over the next 10 years.
There was a panel discussion organized by Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) around how semiconductors are enabling EV revolution? The participants were Ray Cornyn, VP and GM, Vehicle Control and Networking Solutions, Automotive Processors at NXP Semiconductors, Michael Kultgen, Fellow and GM of Automotive BMS Group at Analog Devices, and Sayeed Ahmed, Senior Director, Vehicle Motion Segment, Infineon Technologies, Americas. The session was moderated by Falan Yinug, director of Industry Statistics and Economy Policy at SIA.
Auto processors
Ray Cornyn, NXP Semiconductors, said NXP automotive processors look after safety, electrification, and connected car. There is a value shift from copper to more safe and secure MPUs and MCUs. Logical and physical transitions are accelerating new functions in MPUs and MCUs.
There are two parallel architectural changes. One is domain focus. There is use of scalable and centralized software development, with centralized OTA. The other is zonal focus, which allows simplified wiring and connectivity. There are also core vehicle platform domans. They are focused on safe control and driver comfort. The auto quality is robust, safe, secure, and reliable. It is foundational across all types of vehicles. Optional and model-dependent domains are regularly upgraded, with optional features across a vehicle line. They follow fashion and are time sensitive.
There was a demonstration of NXP-AWS connected EV management solution. NXP automotive processors electrification focus is on battery management, electric motor control, and xEV domain control.
EV BMS
Michael Kultgen, Analog Devices, talked about the typical EV pack and battery management system (BMS). BMS functions include measurement, balance, data communications, and safety.
Under measurement, every cell in a high voltage Li-ion pack must be measured, voltage, current, and temperature. Accurate measurements extend range, reduce cost, through better SoC estimation. Accurate measurements reduce charging time. Under balance, cell imbalance limits the pack’s capacity. Every cell must be balanced with minimum impact to cost and measurement accuracy.
Under data communications, data integrity is critical, the EMI is horrible, and high voltage isolation is required. The vendor who solves the data communications problem will win the market from a major USA OEM. Finally, safety! It must be safe or nothing else matters, with ISO26262 ASIL-D being followed.
BMS consumer and ecosystem impact has seen accelerating the adoption of sustainable EVs. For the grid, distributed battery storage reduces peak demand on the grid, enabling more charging. For cell and pack manufacturing, the speed and quality of cell manufacturing is improved with BMS.
For vehicle assembly, wireless BMS reduces manufacturing complexity, and enables design flexibility. And, for vehicle operation, accurate BMS increases range, reduces charging time, and improves safety. Zero cobalt LFP requires an accurate BMS. In the re-use and recycle, wireless BMS enables the second life of EV batteries, saving cost and lowering the carbon footprint. Battery storage makes renewable energy more effective for power generation.
Cleaner, safer, smarter cars
Sayeed Ahmed, Infineon Technologies, Americas, said their core beliefs reflect the automotive megatrends as cars become cleaner, safer and smarter. Three essential ingredients for enabling the EV revolution are system cost reduction, faster time-to-market, and supply security. These lead to dependable electronics.
There is the high-voltage inverter for EV. The main inverter enables bi-directional power conversion between HV battery and e-motor: Infineon offers the key components for inverters. As per the market, power is over 80 percent of an EV inverter bill of materials (BOM). All power technologies are available in-house. These include Si, which remains the mainstream technology. It is targeting 25V to 6.5kV. It is suitable for low to high power.
Silicon carbide or SiC complements Si in many apps and enables new solutions, targeting 650V to 3.3kV. It enables high power and high switching frequency. Finally, gallium nitride (GaN) enables new horizons in power supply apps and audio fidelity. It is targeting 80V to 650V, with medium power and highest switching frequency.
Infineon SiC trench technology adds to system cost reduction. There is low channel resistance, Shrink potential is higher than in planar DMOS, the oxide corners are shielded by folded double trench, and there is long experience in trench know-how.
System cost reduction can also be achieved by using more chips/Boule by manufacturing technology. Field experience and scalable portfolio also lead to faster TTM. In field experience, Infineon has over 20 BEV platforms in production. 17 out of 25 top selling EVs use Infineon power device. They have shipped 18 million power modules/packages, with no field failures.
For scalable portfolio, Infineon offers the same package with power range from 120kW to 250kW. Migration from Si to SiC is convenient, and there is 400V or 800V bus voltage. Infineon has global multi-sourcing strategy for SiC wafers in place. There has been major investments in in-house frontend and backend manufacturing. Dual front and back-end sites provide robust supply. Infineon has 40+ years experience in manufacturing power devices.
Electrifying highways
Ray Cornyn, NXP, said they have done lot of work in automotives. There is a good understanding where technology needs to go, and is evolving. There are charging stations popping up, but they are way less. How can the infrastructure evolve? Michael Kultgen, Analog Devices, added that we need to augment the grid. Range anxiety is rapidly coming down. As the fleet electrifies, there are business opportunities for charging. There can be an opportunity for wireless charging, as well. We should also consider new ways of designing towns and highways, etc. State of Missouri is looking to electrify some highways.
What does the current chip shortage mean for customers? There will be more chip content. Does the inventory time need to change? Sayeed Ahmed said the present situation will definitely change. Tier 1 and tier 2 OEMs also need to understand how their supply chains work. Demand volatility is another challenge. Sometimes the manufacturing time is also long. We need to reduce the risk from both sides — ours and theirs. This is a continuous dialogue. We need to come up with a plan that serves the needs for both.
Ray Cornyn noted that just-in-time manufacturing has worked so far. However, car OEMs are starting to understand the complex supply chains. We need the stability of supply, going forward.
Memory semiconductors market and technology trends
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) organized a conference on Memory Semiconductors: Market and Technology Trends. Memory semiconductors are a foundational and important sub-segment of the semiconductor market. There are various types of memory technologies, such as DRAM, NAND and NOR flash, and SRAM, etc.
According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS), global sales of memory tied for the largest single share of any sub-product at 27 percent of the total market in 2020.
At the SIA conference, the speakers were Craig Stice, Chief Analyst at Omdia, Dr. Rainer Hoehler, VP and GM, Flash Solutions at Infineon Technologies, and Dr. Thomas Boone, VP for Defense and Aerospace at Spin Memory. The session was moderated by Falan Yinug, Director of Industry Statistics and Economy Policy at SIA.
Craig Stice, Omdia, said DRAM and NAND are the high-volume, commodity memory semi-components, working together in a system (such as PC, server, smartphone), but for different reasons. DRAM manages your data, requires power (volatile). NAND stores your data, does not require power (non-volatile). Memory is in just about all electronics.
Enterprise (server and data center), PC, and mobile make up 80+ percent of the DRAM and NAND demand. TVs, game consoles, removeable storage cards, automotive, smart speakers, other CE, industrial and medical applications, military, etc., also use memory.
Memory in 2020
In 2020, DRAM & NAND combined revenue reached ~$120 billion. In 2020, the total semiconductor market reached revenue of ~$470 billion. DRAM and NAND made up ~25 percent of worldwide total semiconductor revenue. DRAM and NAND are a significant influence on the overall semiconductor market.
The memory industry is well understood to be cyclical, driven by supply and demand. Most recently, following record revenues in both 2017 and 2018, 2019 was a historical down cycle for both DRAM and NAND as demand grew stagnant, memory bit growth persisted, and inventory levels increased resulting in aggressive average selling price (ASP) declines.
In the memory industry, what goes up, typically comes down, then back up. In 2020, the memory industry bounced back, even during a worldwide pandemic. It takes a lot of infrastructure to support work-from-home, educate-from-home, and entertain-from-home environments. Looking ahead, we expect cycles to continue as strong revenue years is re-invested into capacity expansion.
Reviewing 2020, he said that the year 2020 had been projected to be a rebound year from a disastrous 2019. Then Covid-19 hit! Scares of memory production shut-downs, logistical issues, and demand going stagnant put the market on high caution. Smartphones took the early big hit in demand. ~200 million smartphones were taken out of the total 2020 forecast in early 1Q20. However, memory demand from datacenters erupted due to ‘at-home’ environments.
PC markets flourished as corporate, consumers, and educational markets were upgrading PCs for at-home use. At-home entertainment spiked (TV, gaming). Memory pricing increased in 1H20. By 2H20, the mobile markets had bounced back, PC demand continued to outperform, but the enterprise markets went into an inventory management phase and demand slowed. Memory pricing began to decline in 2H20.
Memory ahead
In the short-term (2021), consumer will see strong home entertainment demand, such as TV, set-top-box, smart speaker, etc. In graphics, there will be strong game console demand (new SSD demand), and GPU demand will be boosted by cryptocurrency mining. In mobile, there will be recovery of smartphone, and continued low/mid-tier priced 5G smartphone launches. In server, there will be recovery of enterprise server, and Intel Ice Lake launch. However, cloud server demand is slower than last year. In PC, there will be strong demand for educational and gaming notebooks. There will be caution for a possible softening in 2H21.
In the mid-term (2022-2024), in consumer, there will be mild correction in consumer device, and continued IoT demand. In gaming, there will be mild correction in game consoles and GPUs. In mobile, there will be saturated 5G smartphone set, and growth in low-end segment from emerging countries. In server, there will be DDR5 replacement demand, and SSD buildout will continue. There will be edge server and AI momentum, as well. In PC, there will be some stability from notebooks.
In the long-term (beyond 2024), in consumer, there will be continued demand of consumer electronic devices. In gaming, there will be multi-year cycle of new game consoles and GPUs. In mobile, there will be replacement demand of smartphones. In server, edge computing and AI momentum will continue. There will be HDD cold storage replacement with SSD. In PC, there will be replacement demand of the enterprise segment, and continued positive momentum of the low-end segment.
DRAM technology and manufacturing
In DRAM technology, DRAM has historically gone through ‘die shrinks’. The printed x/y memory cell pattern on the silicon wafer gets smaller and smaller with next- generation lithography nodes and architectural changes. Next-generation die will bring higher capacity, faster speeds, lower power, etc. There will be more die per wafer, more bits per wafer = better cost per wafer. However, as DRAM moves down the roadmap, next generations are becoming more challenging (longer time between generations), more expensive, and not as big of a cost savings.
In DRAM manufacturing, three manufactures make up roughly 95 percent of all DRAM revenue, namely, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. By comparison, in 2008 the same three made up only ~60 percent of the revenue share. Very volatile markets lead to strong supply growth, fierce competition, and ultimately M&A.
With only three major players, and with DRAM technology getting challenging and longer to get to next generations, DRAM output is much more stable. CXMT will be the new DRAM manufacture starting up in China.
NAND technology and manufacturing
For NAND technology, beginning in 2017, the NAND industry went through a 2D to 3D NAND architecture change. NAND performed die shrinks as far as it could go, so went vertical. Think of it as a single-story home to a high-rise apartment. There was same footprint, but more capacity. These vertical layers create more bits per wafer, better cost, higher capacity (with more layers). Today, the NAND industry is on 96-layer 3D NAND, with 128-layer in early production. There is no declaration of how high the industry can stack, but it will become more challenging to achieve ideal yields.
As for NAND manufacturing, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron also manufacture NAND. The three comprise of roughly 67 percent of global NAND revenue. Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) and Western Digital have a partnership, near splitting wafer output. Intel is being acquired by SK Hynix beginning late 2021. YMTC is the new company out of Wuhan, China, but it still has very small output.
DRAM and NAND combined is a $100+ billion industry, but very cyclical and driven by supply and demand. DRAM and NAND make up ~25 percent of the total semiconductor industry. PCs, mobile, and enterprise (data center/server) make up roughly 80 percent of all DRAM and NAND demand.
Overall, the memory industry is expected to continue to grow to meet demand from consumer electronics, hyperscale data centers, AI, IoT, autonomous vehicles. However, technology challenges will only persist in the years ahead. DRAM die shrinks are becoming more challenging. With three manufacturers now making up most of the DRAM output, supply can be more stable and predictable.
NAND has gone vertical, now at 96-layers and moving to 128-layers. DRAM and NAND are a significant influence on the total semiconductor market, either up or down.
Infineon offers unique portfolio
Dr. Rainer Hoehler, Infineon, stated they offer a unique portfolio that links the real and the digital worlds. Infineon offers coin-cell-powered devices, battery-powered devices, memory for power supplies, industrial IoT, drives, smart homes, consumer IoT devices, 5G, and automotives.
Applications rely on safe, secure and reliable memory solutions. There is reliable boot code, secure storage, over-the-air update. The solutions offer instant-on performance, functional safety and security. Compact and low power, features include longevity (15+yrs) and reliability at high temperatures (>125˚C). Infineon serves the automotive, communications, industrial, and wearables segments.
Innovations in memory solutions are enabling emerging applications. These are across automotive, industrial and medical/A&D, and communications domains. Emerging applications require differentiated solutions. The Infineon SEMPER NOR Flash features integrated functional safety and security, and integrated compute core. The serial/parallel NOR Flash features automotive-grade reliability, and high random access performance at low power. nvSRAM combines SRAM performance with power-loss data protection.
The EXCELON F-RAM has NoDelay writes, and 100 trillion read/write cycles. SRAM offers best standby power and lowest SER with embedded ECC. Also, HyperRAM offers low pin-count, and common HyperBus/Octal interface with NOR-Flash. Infineon also offers the Semper Flash architecture, or, the Flash you can trust.
Electronics are pervasive in the real world. Our lives increasingly depend on them. Apps are diversifying, and different technologies and solutions are required. Dependability is the key. Functional safety and security against cyberattacks is required.
Focus on STT-mRAM
Spin Memory is a US company located in Fremont, CA developing perpendicular spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (pSTT-MRAM). It is developing technology to provide embedded NVM, SRAM, and ultimately, DRAM.
Spin Memory owns a class 100 cleanroom ‘back-end’ manufacturing facility. It is currently developing radiation hardened memory solutions to support US military and space applications. STT-MRAM is inherently rad-hard!
Explaining STT-MRAM, Dr. Thomas Boone said MRAM is magneto-resistive RAM. STT is spin transfer torque. Electron spin sets free layer polarization. ST-MRAM using pMTJ is latest MRAM generation. Bitcell uses 1 transistor + 1 MTJ, a very dense configuration. There are attributes such as non-volatile, high-speed read and write, high endurance, and easy integration in BEOL, with no impact on FEOL. There is perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (pMTJ), as well.
The US Government and DoD requires advanced Rad-Hard microelectronics memory for strategic and space applications. STT-MRAM is intrinsically radiation immune. It is useful for space probe and satellite apps. Spin Memory is targeting trusted and assured foundries. Spin Memory is enabling STT-MRAM IP and resources, including CONUS 200mm factory in Fremont, CA. Space-based systems also need a new memory. Spin’s patented IP engineered MRAM is set to challenge DRAM/SRAM.
Semiconductor industry could be worth trillion dollars by 2036
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) held a conference to make sense of the trends that shaped the global semiconductor market in 2020, and look ahead to what is in store for 2021.
The participants were Andrea Lati, VP, Market Research, VLSI Research, Dale Ford, Chief Analyst, Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA), and CJ Muse, Senior MD, Head of Global Semiconductor Research, Evercore ISI. Falan Yinug, Director, Industry Statistics and Economic Policy, Semiconductor Industry Association, was the moderator.
Tough 2020!
Andrea Lati, VLSI Research, said that for the IC trend, the growth has accelerated since November 2020 as component shortages had strengthened prices. DRAM and NAND started 2020 very strong. They dropped during the middle of the year. The rebound happened during H2-2020.
IC recovery has since been sustainable, including for analog, power, etc. IC inventories have also been improving. They were running 8 percent above a year ago, in December 2020. The chip price performance index (CPPI) was relatively flat in 2020 despite high inventories in memory. Steady increase in Q4-2020 bodes well for 2021 prospects.
Dale Ford, ECIA, said there was a whipsaw disaster in 2020 that required a nimble response. There was a supply chain impact in 2020 due to the government quarantine orders and directives on company’s workforce and operations. Things calmed down after a time. The index of concern was quite high by August 2020, but, it is now coming down. Q4-2020 data will see numbers improve.
CJ Muse, Evercore ISI, said the semiconductor industry had gone through a correction in 2019. We were set up very well during 2020. Things were not as bad as feared in 2020. TSMC revenues were flat in April. There was an over reaction in automotive production. By September, TSMC-Huawei embargo had happened.
What’s ahead in 2021?
Andrea Lati noted that there will be continued worldwide GDP growth in CY21 from 2H20. Cloud and hyperscale datacenter will be a key drivers for the semiconductor industry. Hyperscale capex is at an all-time high. Cloud investments are supported by strong financial performance. 5G proliferation will be another big driver. 5G smartphone shipments will double in 2021. There will be increasing deployments for 5G base stations.
VLSI Research has forecasted 12 percent growth in semiconductors for 2021. Memory will lead the way. There will be continued recovery in auto, industrial, etc. Capex remained top-heavy despite increased spending by Chinese manufacturers. TSMC will definitely increase the capex, along with Intel, among the top 10 spenders. Semiconductor and equipment recovery is on track. There is buildout of IT infrastructure, 5nm demand ramp, 5G growth, memory capacity buildout, etc.
Trillion-dollar industry by 2036?
Dale Ford felt that the annual revenue cycle trends are up, starting from Sept. 2019. Annual revenue growth profile continued steady through 2020. It broke positive in August 2020. There are now strong demand and technology drivers. Semiconductors sit right at the top of the profile. Average lead times have also improved, especially, for controllers and processors. There was an upward trend in analog and logic components. The demand for discrete components and automotive components are also in the news.
There has been solid start to the current cycle. Most cycles last about four years. The technology/market forces are aligning to support growth in 2020+. Semiconductor industry has become much more responsive to the market indicators. We have an opportunity to see the ‘swoosh’ scenario. There are concerns about the global economy. However, electronics and semiconductors have been the biggest beneficiaries of the free trade.
The long-term semiconductor growth trends are moving toward $439-$472 billion by January 2021. It can easily move to $750 billion by 2030, and perhaps, a trillion dollars by 2036. Some positives include medical equipment, data centers, telecom infrastructure and 5G, solid-state drives, touchless solutions, memory, and sensors. The triumvirate of cloud, 5G and IoT, will make the long-term future looks very bright.
CJ Muse said there was higher OSAT pricing throughout the year. PCs grew 13 percent in 2020. It will probably be flat in 2021. Semiconductors are benefitting from being the component for the new economy. There will be 30 percent growth in DRAM and 12 percent growth in NAND. Industrial is just beginning to recover. IoT and smartphone are going to see huge growth. The party is just getting started. 2021 will be a great year, followed by 2022. There will be more supply, leading to some buffer stocks.
The world economy is depending on semiconductors, as the last year has shown. The impact going forward, will be on the supply chain. There are applications of AI for supply chain management, and key performance indicators and predictors. We need to deal better with the Black Swan events in the future. The SIA is also looking at a study on the supply chain, which will be coming out soon.
Automotive issues
Ford added that the Covid-19 crisis needed agile and nimble response. We are dealing with an industry that deals with how long it takes to produce a chip. Automotive lines were being shut down. Demand came back stronger, than expected. They need products built on 200mm. Investments have been more on the leading-edge technologies.
For lack of a low-cost component, other things can get held up. TSMC, UMC, etc., are taking some steps, but that won’t solve matters that easily. There are challenging questions regarding chips that automotives need. Muse remarked that semiconductor contracts with automotive manufacturers are long lasting. These chips are built for the different vehicles. Chip makers may want to cut supply.
Semicon spends healthy
Andrea Lati noted that spending levels have been healthy. China has also come up strong. TSMC, Samsung, etc., are seeing sectoral trends. They anticipate greater demand ahead. We are looking at tight market conditions. We may end up looking good in 2021. That should drive more capacity increases.
Long-term growth factors for the global semiconductor industry are there. Dale Ford felt that the future is bright. There have been many products that have shaped the world. The markets won’t fail in the future for the lack of innovation and technology.
Lati felt there could be some geopolitical risks in some parts of the world. Muse added that rising prices will occur in 2021. Ford added that there can be a policy of bifurcation with China. There could be changes in supply chain, and that could be a concern.
Decadal plan for semiconductors: Setting 2030 goals
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), USA, organized a conference today on the Decadal Plan for Semiconductors: Setting 2030 goals.
The 2020-2030 decadal plan for semiconductors has been developed to outline research priorities for five seismic shifts, seeking to ensure sustainable growth for semiconductor and ICT industries.
Seismic shift #1 – Need for smarter analog world-machine interfaces.
Seismic shift #2 – The growth of memory and storage demands.
Seismic shift #3 – Communication capacity vs. data generation imbalance.
Seismic shift #4 – Emerging security challenges in both highly interconnected systems and AI.
Seismic shift #5 – Compute energy vs global energy production.
Ms. Maryam Cope, Director, Government Affairs, Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) was the moderator. She said that semiconductors is vital for the USA. Semiconductor R&D was worth 16.4 percent from the USA by 2019.
Dr. Todd Younkin, President and CEO, Semiconductor Research Corp., said the SIA and SRC have been partnering for a long time. It has invested $2.2 billion in research funding since 1982. There are over 2,000 research projects globally, over 14,000 SRC-sponsored students, and over 700 patents issued. The vast network is focused on research and workforce development for the semiconductor industry. SRC manages collaborative research with the government and the industry.
SRC has been forecasting for technology requirements, and moved to SRC 2.0 for the community. There is increased need for federal support. There are generational opportunities in hyperscale computing, AI, 6G, quantum, etc. There have been advances in 3D monolithic and heterogenous integration. Research builds upon the rapid rise of 2.5-3D SoIC and SiP standards, including photonics. There must be systems that meet the extreme environments, such as cryo, auto, and space.
The future rests on continued, cost-effective breakthroughs in hardware. SRC also published an interim report on decadal plan timeline in Oct., 2020. These include breakthroughs in analog hardware, radically new storage and memory solutions, emerging security challenges, improved energy efficiency, etc.
Victor V. Zhirnov, Chief Scientist, Semiconductor Research Corp., said, information, along with energy has been the socio-economic growth engine of civilization. The future will be about how we store, process, and communicate information.
The current hardware-software paradigm driving digital technologies is reaching its limits and must evolve. There is growth of data and energy consumption. Visionaries from many companies came together for the decadal plan, such as IBM, Intel, Mentor, Qualcomm, etc. Some of these are compute energy vs. global energy production, need for smarter storage world-machine interfaces, etc. Total energy of computing is a need to change the computational trajectory. New trajectories are pointing to quantum computing, neuromorphic, and AI engines.
Our world is analog, and we are facing an analog data deluge. We still have limited ability to absorb information. There is dramatic increase in the requirement of global memory and storage. We have to discover storage technologies with over 100X storage density capability. There is gap between communication capacity and data capacity. We need to develop new trajectories for communications. There is also need for trust, security, and privacy in the world of robots. We are beginning a new semiconductor era. Foundations have been laid, to move up to 2030.
Discussion on plan
Jim Ang, Chief Scientist for Computing in the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conducted a panel discussion on the decadal plan for semiconductors.
The panelists were:
- Gilroy Vandentop, Director of Corporate University Research, Intel.
- Jim Wieser, Director of University Research and Technology, Texas Instruments.
- Sean Eilert, Fellow, Emerging Memory & Memory System Optimization Technology Pathfinding Group, Micron.
- Ramesh Chauhan, Principal Engineer, Qualcomm.
- Ms. Debra Delise, GM, Security Center of Excellence, Analog Devices.
Gilroy Vandentop, Intel, discussed about changing the compute trajectory. Many device options exist and new approaches are needed. We need to invest in all of this.
Jim Wieser, Texas Instruments, said there is the interface to the real world. There is sensing, bio-inspired model, energy savings, and holistic co-design. We have priority research themes to address, such as analog-to-information, sensing to action, trainable neuromorphic signal converters, analog bio-inspired ML, THz regime analog, and analog development methodology. The targets can be achieved with new methods.
Sean Eilert, Micron, talked about new trajectories for memory and storage. Heterogenous computing brings new memory requirements. There is bandwidth for GPU and AI accelerators in mobile apps. Bandwidth and capacity is needed for domain specific data centers. There is need for persistence and low power for edge apps. 3D integration and low temperature memory processes enable improved logic. There is need for energy-efficient near-data computing. Near-data computing framework is the key enabler for compute bandwidth scaling and energy savings.
Ramesh Chauhan, Qualcomm, spoke about the intelligent wireless edge. There will be on-demand AI, augmented by the edge cloud. By 2035, 5G-impacted products will be worth $13.2 billion. There is need to build new network addressing different types of apps. The app areas that will be geared up include industrial IoT, healthcare, education, retail, construction, agriculture, etc. There will also be private-public networks. We have to deal with challenges, such as privacy/security, immediacy, efficiency, reliability, and personalization. Networks will need to be built in a power-efficient manner. We have to look at an end-to-end communications network.
Ms. Debra Delise, Analog Devices, said that there are security challenges such as ubiquitous sensing and connectivity. There is need to for system/platform security, data protection, privacy, and trusted decision-making. There are new, priority research themes. Fresh breakthroughs in hardware research is needed to achieve the security and privacy of complex systems. There also need to be more trusted AI systems, security and privacy of heterogenous hardware platforms, emerging cryptography, and securing the edge, for cloud and distributed processing.
Heterogenous integration
How will research impact future electronics solutions across many apps? Gilroy Vandentop suggested developing new chiplets for heterogenous integration. We need to take systematic advantage of this opportunity. Jim Wieser added that there is no one technology that can address it. We will need heterogenous technologies. Power management and conversion are very important parts. We also need to see what high-resolution radar can bring.
Ramesh Chauhan said the future will depend on heterogeneity. There is going to be shift in the nature of communications over the next decade. There will be three aspects: heterogenous, scalability, and adaptability, which will be key. Ms. Debra Delise said there are bodies of work, such as crypto, which will probably provide the foundation. A more elusive challenge is testing, modeling, emulating, and validating.
Semiconductor/electronics gaps
According to Ms. Debra Delise, there is need to provide security cost effectively. We have a daunting challenge. New breakthroughs need to be focused on this. Co-optimization of algorithms, hardware, software, etc., need to be thought through.
Sean Eilert said there needs to be more research and scaling to meet market needs. The industry needs to continue closing the gap. There are specialized processors. There is need to have programming frameworks in place to adopt the new technologies. Gilroy Vandentop said there is challenge for the academics to build, re-optimize, learn, rebuild. We need to enable researches to access what they need.
Future semiconductor research
Jim Wieser said the future will have a co-design approach. Doing sensing, or action, need to be understood. Sean Eilert added that a holistic approach is very important. Chauhan agreed on the holistic approach. We look at communication, compute, memory, and security. We can take this to the next step, where they go into a system. Then, we can talk about a system of systems.
Ms. Debra Delise said the premise around security is that you have to build it in. AI is another big area. We need to address the fundamentals and trust.
Energy/power needs
Here, Ramesh Chauhan said that we need to address this huge issue. Energy efficiency can come from three areas: increase capacity with higher spectrum, we need devices that are more energy efficient. Where exactly is the energy burning, and where is it dominating? We need to save as much power as we can. Building a 5G/6G system should be done using AI capabilities. We have to find an opportunity to do all this very efficiently.
Sean Eilert said there needs to be compute-intensive apps moved to domain-specific hardware. Aggregating data in a sensor is important. Once, we get data into storage, that’s where we work on. Jim Wieser said that reducing power consumption can be through better compositions. Efficiency of power conversions also comes into play. We need to keep that efficient. Technologies such as UWB can improve this. Gilroy Vandentop said there is need to look at beyond CMOS devices. We have many options in flight. We need systematic programs.
Specific future needs
Vandentop said we cannot achieve any future needs without talent. We need to scale talent much more. We need to help scholars continue to study further. Wieser added there is need to address the study of hardware. We need a new pipeline of analog designers to address the future needs. Eilert said that hardware-software design is holistic. There needs to be more work done to take advantage of that. Education needs to be addressed, as well. That will enable more innovation.
Chauhan felt that it is important to realize that the problems are skewed more towards software criticality. For all the problems, there needs to be some co-ordinated efforts across all the tracks. We need to have a balance between the academia and the industry.
Ms. Delise concluded that there are infinite areas of innovation. We also need to partner tightly, and have industry-guided research. We have to accelerate from research, to academia, to implementation.
Global semiconductor industry likely to grow 1.4 percent in 2020
Recently, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that global sales of semiconductors were $35 billion in May 2020, an increase of 5.8 percent from May 2019 total of $33 billion and 1.5 percent more than the April 2020 total of $34.4 billion. The monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, and represent a three-month moving average.
Additionally, a newly-released WSTS industry forecast projects annual global sales will increase 3.3 percent in 2020 and 6.2 percent in 2021. SIA represents 95 percent of the US semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of the non-US chip firms.
Malcolm Penn, founder and CEO, recently presented, regarding the Covid-19 and the semiconductor market. It was prepared before the May WSTS data was published. Future Horizon’s view throughout this crisis was that growth was never going to be as bad and negative, as all the other pundits were saying!
Even the SIA is now coming round to this way of thinking and forecasting +3.3% growth in semiconductors for 2020! The ‘industry consensus’ of -5% growth Q2 vs. Q1 is, as expected, is going to prove wildly pessimistic!
What Future Horizons said in Jan. 2020 was +9.5 percent growth for global semiconductor industry, with the market set for strong cyclical rebound. This is barring the unforeseen geo-political, economic or financial disasters. The economy was fundamentally OK, and vulnerable to downside risks. The IC units were below long-term average, and rebound was in progress. Th fab capacity saw CapEx cutbacks in play, and no excess capacity. As for the ASPs, they were back, growing. The memory market had bottomed.
As of June 17, 2020, the current outlook was -3.0 / +1.4 percent, driven by weak Q2/Q3, followed by a rebound in 2021. This is barring the second pandemic wave disrupting ‘business as usual’ recovery. The economy has strong pent up demand (goods and leisure holidays). The IC units have been strong. But, some markets are still weak (e.g., automotive). As for the fab capacity, CapEx will remain tight for the rest of the year. ASPs are still growing, with tight supply cushioning price pressure.
IT, connectivity and wearables, etc., are proving very strong (remote working plus health driven). Covid-19 will have an impact on retail, office, commuting, business travel and automotive. However, the impact on non-automotive semiconductors has been negligible. Strong recovery is currently underway. This trend is substantiated by strong near-term spot market in Asia. There is -5 percent Q2 growth, based on chip company consensus forecasts. These could likely prove far too pessimistic. There is +1.4 percent growth forecast, with US$ 420 billion upside, if true.
We are out on a limb again with Covid-19. In March 11, 2020, there was a push out vs. economic crash conundrum. There was potential for strong 2H-2020 rebound, thanks to Apple and game consoles. The forecast range was predicted to be +1.5 percent to +5 percent.
On Jun 17, 2020, at the ExpoElectronica, strong GDP growth rebound has been forecasted, once the Covid-19 uncertainty recedes. Global lockdown had hit the economic growth ‘pause’, but not the ‘crash’ button. Most importantly, the semiconductor market was in good shape, pre-Covid-19. The fundamentals still are!
Most of the other analysts/experts have been forecasting strong negative growth. Future Horizons’ outlook for the global semiconductor industry is -3 percent to + 1.4 percent for 2020. The chip industry has hardly blinked, automotive and smart phones aside! IT and semiconductors are actually enjoying a ‘good’ crisis. All other chip company forecasts are likely to prove far too pessimistic. There is +1.4 percent growth more likely, vs. -3.0 percent, for the global semiconductor industry in 2020.
TSMC, UMC in green for March! Global semicon growth down!!
In what may be termed as some good news, two leading semiconductor wafer fab companies, based in Taiwan, have recorded positive increases for March 2020.
TSMC announced net revenues for March 2020 on April 10. On a consolidated basis, revenues for March 2020 were approximately NT$113.52 billion, an increase of 21.5 percent from February 2020 and an increase of 42.4 percent from March 2019. Revenues for January through March 2020 totalled NT$310.60 billion, an increase of 42 percent compared to same period in 2019.
UMC, another leading global semiconductor foundry from Taiwan, recorded net sales of NT$ 14,570,408 in March 2020, as against NT$ 10,325,739 in March 2019, and NT$ 13,606,421 in March 2021.
TSMC’s Q1 2020 earnings release conference will be held on April 16, 2020, at 2 pm Taiwan time. UMC will hold its Q1 2020 earnings release and investor conference call on April 27, 2020. TSMC also has plans to build beyond-5nm logic technology platform and applications, for 6th generation FinFET CMOS technology platform for SoC, in 2021.
Global semicon growth hit
VLSI Research’s projection expects a big hit to the semiconductor industry in 1H20, followed by recovery in H2. In case the recovery is delayed, declines in electronics, ICs and equipment will be far greater. The falling end demand will see half the IC recovery, and keep the IC market in the red, in the near term. VLSI Research puts mild-Covid 19, with delayed recovery in 4Q20. But, it also puts severe Covid-19 impact and recovery in 1Q21.
As per the latest data from Statista, the forecast predicts a worst case scenario of a 12 percent or more decline to global semiconductor industry revenues, as impacted by Covid-19 outbreak. It will bring serious implications for the wider technology industry. The technology supply chain would take approximately 3 months to recover, while the global disruption to the economy and technology demand would likely last for at least 12 months.
Industry should stay up and running
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released a statement from president and 
CEO John Neuffer commending congressional approval and enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act recovery package. SIA represents U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, with members accounting for approximately 95 percent of US semiconductor company sales.
In a paper titled: Why the Semiconductor Industry Must Stay Up and Running as We Confront COVID-19, the SIA has called on all governments around the world, at all levels – central, states/provinces, and localities – to prioritize continued operations for their domestic semiconductor companies and their suppliers by defining the semiconductor industry and its supply chain as “essential infrastructure” and/or “essential business.
AMCHAM, CSIA, ESIA, JSIA, KSIA, SEIPI, SEMI, SIA, SSIA, and TSIA have together called on nations to prioritize essential supply chain operations during Covid-19.
A release said: “We call on all governments to specify semiconductor industry operations as “essential infrastructure” and/or “essential business” to allow continuity in operations of an industry that powers our global digital infrastructure and underpins vital sectors of the economy.”
Yole Développement, in a report, says that the NAND and DRAM outlook appears favorable in 2020. Let’s see!
Robot disinfects large areas
In another development, a robot capable of rapidly disinfecting large areas has been invented by Forth Engineering in Cumbria, a world-first solutions business, to speed-up the fight against coronavirus.
Forth Engineering is known for its innovations to solve complex industry challenges in the nuclear, oil and gas, renewables and other sectors all over the world. Forth MD, Mark Telford, and his team have responded to the fight against COVID-19 by inventing a remotely-operated disinfecting robot.
Perhaps, the world has forgotten one simple line: everything runs on chips, or ICs, or semiconductors. If no semiconductors, then, nothing remains! And, that definitely will never happen!! Here’s how!
Steep rise in memory, RPA, Industry 4.0
Folks, expect a steep rise in memory and memory-related products. Especially, DRAM and NAND! There will probably be a huge demand for products and computers that are high on memory.
We may see a rise in RPA-related products. Industry 4.0 may gather steam as companies will now look to automate several or all processes across industries. Same for blockchain and delivery drones, and probably, self-driving cars. Perhaps, there may be more focus on smart cities as well.
There could be a rising demand for cloud-based application security solutions. As would high-performance computing. With it, servers, with even more storage. We may also see more connected enterprises in the future. Life sciences will probably go full speed, as could electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
Automotive, consumer goods, electronic components electronics, medical equipment and supplies, pharmaceuticals, may undergo a sea change as companies may look at other avenues, besides China. There may be, and should be, even more innovations happening, once Covid-19 has been tackled properly. Needless to add, remote working and online entertainment are bound to grow.
Expect, China to be at a receiving end in Asia as several companies will look for alternative bases, besides China. There could be lot of office space, now that social distancing is a norm.
One hopes to hear some more good news from the global semiconductor industry, despite these tough times.
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