Category Archives: Applications

By Ajit Manocha, president and CEO, SEMI

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a hot topic today, but SEMI has helped to incubate Big Data and AI since its founding. Early in SEMI’s history, SEMI’s always intelligent members worked together to introduce International Standards that enabled different pieces of equipment to collect and later pass data.  At first, it was for basic interoperability and equipment state analysis.  Later, SEMI data protocol Standards allowed process and metrology data to be used locally and across the fab to approach the goals of Smart Manufacturing and AI – for the equipment itself to make adjustments based on incoming wafer data.

Ajit--photo 1--sample.e.XL3A5483 (from pdg)As a part of this evolution, SEMI members developed the latest sensors and computational hardware that could ever better sense, analyze and act on the environment. Often first to use its own newly developed hardware, progress in this area was critical toward improving the likelihood of success for one of the world’s most complicated production processes – and coping with the breakneck speed of Moore’s Law – by accelerating capabilities that would later be regarded as the basis for machine learning and “thinking” systems.

Since then, process steps have increased from about 175 to as many as 1,000 for the leading technology nodes. By the time 300mm wafers were introduced, manufacturing intelligence and automation sharply increased productivity while reducing fab labor by more than 25 percent. Employing adaptive models, modern leading-edge factories are fully automated and operate at nearly 60 percent autonomous control.

Today, AI is akin to where IoT was yesterday in the hype cycle – popping up everywhere as a major consideration for the future. Neither IoT nor AI is hype, though – they’re the future.  There is ever more at stake for SEMI members with AI.  AI appears to be the next wave helping to maintain double-digit growth for the foreseeable future.

As part of its appeal for the global supply chain, AI can be a key silicon driver for three inflections that should benefit society. First, there is a massive increase in the amount of compute needed. Half of all the compute architectures shipping in 2021 will be supporting and processing AI.

Second, the Cloud will flourish and the Edge will bloom. By 2021, 50 percent of enterprise infrastructure will employ cognitive and artificial intelligence.

Third, new species of chips will emerge, such as the devices fueling IC content and electronics for the rapid growth of disruptive capabilities in vehicles and autonomous cars (as well as medical and agricultural applications, for example). There are also many more advantages created with and for AI as SEMI members enable new materials and advanced packaging.

What results can be measured from these changes for the global electronics manufacturing supply chain? More apps, more electronics, more silicon and more manufacturing.

On the other hand, the technologies alone create relatively little business value if the problems in our factories and markets are not well understood. There’s a great need to anticipate and guide AI. This requires a new kind of collaboration.

To address this need, SEMI’s vertical application platforms have been created for Smart Data (which is all about AI), and also for Smart MedTech, Smart Transportation, Smart Manufacturing and IoT. This higher degree of facilitated collaboration serves to cultivate multiple “smart communities” that accelerate progress for AI, better directing how connected networks and data mining can step up the pace for advancement of global prosperity. This process also provides members with access to untapped business opportunities and new players.​​

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We at SEMI are learning right along with our members. If you attended SEMICON West in July, several lessons about AI were presented by the Executive Panel (“Meeting the Challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolutions along the Microelectronics Supply Chain”) with Mary Puma (Axcelis), Shaheen Dayal (Intel), Lori Ciano (Brooks Automation) and Regenia Sanders (Ernst & Young). This very timely and excellent panel discussed how and where predictive analytics can have the biggest impact and the implications of sharing (and not sharing) data for problem solving and process optimization.

Ensuring that the SEMI staff gleans everything possible from the experts, we hosted an “encore” of the Executive Panel in October in our headquarters for an even more in-depth discussion about how to enhance collaboration across the supply chain in support of AI.

Going forward, these SEMI vertical platform communities will help to simplify and accelerate supply chain engagement for member value. Collaboration will play an ever greater role for using AI to master the making of advanced node semiconductor devices and enabling limitless cognitive computing. As a result, AI as we know it today, has a big head start over the previous pace of evolution for one of our great trendsetters, Moore’s Law.

Join the conversation.  Find out how you can work with SEMI to advance the AI – and especially AI in semiconductor manufacturing.  Frank Shemansky Jr., Ph.D., is heading up SEMI’s formation of SEMI’s Smart Data vertical application platform.  Let Frank know ([email protected]) you’re interested and he’ll give you more information on what’s to come.  As always, please let me know your thoughts.

 

SEMI announced today that the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) 2018, will take place January 15-18 at Half Moon Bay’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, with the theme “Smart, Intuitive & Connected: Semiconductor Devices Transforming the World.”  ISS is the year’s first executive check-in, bringing together leading analysts, researchers, economists, and technologists for insights on the forces impacting the semiconductor industry. The annual symposium offers executives a unique platform for identifying growth opportunities and gaining industry intelligence to help them ensure that their business plans and forecasts are based on up-to-the-minute market conditions. Registration for ISS is now open.

Major developments are transforming the extended supply chain — artificial intelligence, intelligent vehicles, augmented and virtual reality, and limitless connectivity within the cloud. Through collaboration across an expanding ecosystem and advanced technical innovations, today’s electronics are incorporating features that defy convention, while constantly raising performance and lowering power consumption, with smaller footprints,  reduced device sizes, and increasingly packaging heterogeneously integrated components.

The ISS 2018 will feature insightful keynote addresses, panel discussions, and presentations spanning four key session topics:

  • Economic Trends: Get an insider’s view from Alpha Capital Partners, BCA Research, Gartner, IHS Markit and SEMI.
  • Market Perspective: Autonomous cars, virtual reality, and cloud connectivity — where’s the growth? Hear perspectives from Amazon Web Services, Mentor (a Siemens Business), Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley and Oculus.
  • Technology: Emerging applications and major advances in equipment, materials, design, and packaging. Get insights from executives at ASM, ASML, IC Knowledge, imec, Intel, and Versum Materials.
  • Societal Disruptions by Technology: Robotics, artificial intelligence, social media — hear from representatives of Accenture, IBM, McKinsey & Co., Tufts University and VLSI Research, among others.

The industry is going through a major growth cycle and the challenges remain to stay strong ahead of the cycles. SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium 2018 will give industry professionals the knowledge needed to succeed. To learn more and to register, visit http://www.semi.org/en/ISS

SEMI-MSIG’s MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress (MSEC) held November 1-2 in San Jose, CA, challenged industry executives to see beyond traditional dividing lines of human-machine interaction. MEMS and sensors were hailed as the enablers for pervasive, connected and contextually aware computing and seen as drivers for an explosion of new applications and possibilities. Securing autonomous vehicles from hackers and improving crop yields to feed the 10 billion people we will have on the planet by 2050 were two popular examples of new applications.

Keynote Speaker Intel’'s Lama Nachman discussed contextually aware systems.

Keynote Speaker Intel’’s Lama Nachman discussed contextually aware systems.

Lama Nachman, Intel fellow and director of the company’s Anticipatory Computing Lab, explored contextually aware systems during her keynote. Lachman said that technology needs to be more proactive, anticipating our needs, e.g., Google Now. One challenge lies in using sensors to measure things for which they were not designed, such as emotions and physiology. Lachman exhorted MSEC attendees to develop more configurable systems and sensors so that they can be used for other applications and possibly drive the next “killer app.”

Lars Reger, CTO, NXP Automotive Business Unit, described the essential and extensive use of MEMS and sensors in automotive connectivity, autonomy, electrification, and safe and secure mobility during his keynote. Reger noted that “motion sensors are the key to increasing security in keyless entry systems, reducing hacking.” He concluded that “entering a new era of automated driving requires functional safety and security,” telling MSEC attendees, “we need the best sensors to achieve a failure-free model in autonomous vehicles.”

Alissa Fitzgerald, founder and managing member, A.M. Fitzgerald & Associates, noted that the pipeline for emerging technologies generally begins with university labs turning out proof-of-concept devices. “The next $1B product is lurking in a lab somewhere,” said Fitzgerald. She also encouraged attendees to look for key trends in emerging technologies, citing “ultra-low power, a migration from capacitive MEMS to piezoelectric sensors and actuators, the stagnation of silicon sensors, and a movement toward paper and plastic sensors.” She drew her results from a review of more than 500 papers from academic conferences, filtered for commercial viability.

Henri Hekman, CEO and president of SoilCares BV, explained how his company is using MEMS near infrared (NIR) devices to scan soil samples. “To feed a surging global population, we cannot increase arable land so we must increase agricultural productivity. The place to start is in the soil.” Hekman said that SoilCares is conducting trials in Africa and North America as it launches in 20 countries in 2017.

SEMI-MSIG Executive Director Frank Shemansky expanded upon themes from MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress. “From device-makers to commercial application developers, there was a collective buzz around ubiquitous intelligent sensing,” said Shemansky. “Speakers explored the critical role of sensing in more natural and immersive user interfaces, including voice, in interpreting emotion, in anticipating needs, in managing medication, and in providing safer, more secure ways to build autonomous vehicles that will actually save human lives. As we look toward 2018 and beyond, the MEMS and sensors industry will continue to work closely with the consumers of our products, as we help them to further advance human-machine interaction in meaningful ways.”

Technology Showcase Winner and Hall of Fame Recognitions
A highly anticipated event at the Executive Congress, the Technology Showcase, was a forum where four finalists competed for attendees’ votes and the title of “winner.” The 2017 Technology Showcase winner, Menlo Digital-Micro-Switch Technology by Menlo Micro, demonstrates fundamental materials’ advancements that improve the size, speed, power handling and reliability of MEMS switches. Menlo Micro’s MEMS-based switching element is the width of a human hair, enabling RF switching 1,000 times faster and lasts 1,000 times longer than traditional mechanical switches.

SEMI-MSIG also inducted two new members into the SEMI-MSIG Hall of Fame: Raji Baskaran, pathfinding lead, Hardware and Software Co-optimization, Intel Corporation: Saffron Technology Group, and Kevin Crofton, executive vice president and COO, SPTS Technologies, an Orbotech Company.

 

NXP Semiconductors, Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission, and Chongqing Laingian New Area Administrative Committee have signed an agreement to establish the NXP China Applications Development Center for Auto Electronics. The center will help China’s domestic carmakers quickly gain the needed knowledge and expertise to build Electronic Control Units (ECUs) using NXP solutions.

Chongqing, a mega city with more than 30 million inhabitants located in the eastern part of China, plays a vital role in China’s modern automobile industry. As the country’s largest automobile production base with 14 vehicle manufacturers, Chongqing has identified automotive growth as a key strategic pillar and seeks to build its strength and competitive edge by expanding its semiconductor capabilities.

NXP has partnered with the Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission and the Chongqing Laingian New Area Administrative Committee to drive more automotive industry growth with the new applications development center. The facility, staffed with NXP automotive experts, provides a tight link to local automotive teams that will bring their products, reference designs and application support needs for consultation.

The agreement outlines a 15-year minimum window of commitment, the hiring of 100 team members and massive joint investment to create rich conditions for growth. It also aims to increase tier one electronic capability and build and support infrastructure with an initial focus on microcontrollers.

About Chongqing and the Application Center

  • Chongqing plays a vital role in China’s modern automobile industry. It has the country’s largest automobile production base with 14 vehicle manufacturers.
  • It is the first R&D organization in Chongqing to focus on automotive semiconductors and four major applications in the automotive industry (traditional vehicle body, new energy, autonomous driving and intelligent networks).
  • Chongqing is developing an automotive electronics industry worth hundreds of billions of RMB and expanding the influence of the city’s innovation in the Chinese and global automotive market.

“It is the right time for NXP to establish the China Auto Electronics Application Development Center in Chongqing,” said Wu Cunrong, mayor of Chongqing. “Combining automotive and electronic information, the automotive electronics industry has a vast space for development. Chongqing is currently targeting global market demand and focusing on automotive electronics research and development in order to promote industrial transformation and upgrading. We hope that the Application Center will enhance the capability of Chongqing in auto electronics R&D, improve the industrial ecosystem and enhance the vitality of industrial development. I hope that the project can start construction as soon as possible, so that we can benefit from its research and development capacity.”

FlexTech, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner announced a new development project with PARC, a Xerox company, to develop a hybrid, highly bendable, paper-like smart tag, incorporating a thin audio speaker. The product is aimed at applications in packaging, wearables prosthetics, soft robotics, smart tags, and smart cities and homes.

PARC will use ink jet printing to build prototypes of the paper-like smart tags capable of producing audio signals, on a silver-printed polyethylene naphthalene (PEN) or polyimide (PI) substrate. They will develop and demonstrate a process for bonding chips, and printing active and passive components, as well as interconnects on the flexible substrate, essential in meeting the project goals for ruggedness and form factor. PARC will also focus on printing actuators to create thin film audio speakers. The technology will enable custom systems to be built on demand.

“Over the last 15 years PARC has been a pioneer in the exciting field of printed electronics.  We are pleased to continue our collaboration with SEMI-FlexTech in a project which takes advantage of the wide range of expertise on the PARC staff,” said Bob Street, project technical lead at PARC. “This new project is technically challenging because it combines a number of novel technologies needed to achieve stringent requirements, including the capability for a thin, paper-like film to produce clear speech audio.  We are looking forward to the challenge and implications for commercial products.”

In 2014, FlexTech awarded PARC with a project grant to develop printed sensors. Partly because of this work, it is now possible to print transistor circuits in a fully additive fashion, and to combine these with sensors, actuators and other electronic components.

“We have had a long, fruitful relationship with PARC and look forward to excellent results from this project which clearly advances innovation in flexible, printable electronics, enabling solutions that lead to safer, healthier lives,” said Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO at SEMI-FlexTech. “In addition to pushing the boundaries in electronics, PARC pays attention to manufacturability and affordability, ensuring developments are scalable from R&D to production.”

PARC and SEMI-FlexTech staff envisage additive manufacturing delivering intelligence into electronics fabricated on demand, including smart packaging and wearable devices in conformal shapes. At the heart of this development are material science, novel printing technologies as well as process driven design that will deliver libraries of smart components and systems. The constituent “inks” of this technology are nanomaterials, molecular semiconductors, inorganic composites and silicon chiplets that together form circuits, sensors, light emitters, batteries, and more, integrated directly into products of all shapes, sizes and textures.

FlexTech’s R&D program is supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), based in Adelphi, MD.

According to Yole Développement (Yole), the MEMS packaging market will grow from US$2.56 billion in 2016 to US$6.46 billion in 2022, showing a 16.7% CAGR over this period. The MEMS packaging market’s value is growing faster than the MEMS device market’s value: respectively, a 16.7% CAGR for packaging versus 14.1% for devices, during the period 2016 – 2022.

Under this dynamic context, Yole Group of Companies including Yole and its sister company System Plus Consulting proposes today a comprehensive review of the technology evolution, market trends and competitive landscape, with two reports, MEMS Packaging and MEMS Packaging: Reverse Technology Review.

The MEMS packaging report offers a deep understanding of the packaging over the years, detailed roadmap for future solutions, related market metrics and detailed analysis of the supply chain. In parallel, the MEMS Packaging: Reverse Technology Review details a comparative technology review and discloses insights into the packaging structure and technology of 80+ consumer and 20+ automotive MEMS devices developed by leading players: Robert Bosch, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, STMicroelectronics, Knowles…

The MEMS packaging market is becoming more and more attractive, offering important business opportunities for advanced packaging companies. What are the market needs? What are the conditions to penetrate this market? Are the technologies “ready to use”? Through its analyses, Yole Group believes that companies which will be successful, are the ones that will adapt their technologies portfolio to match with the market evolution and ensure their market shares. Yole and System Plus Consulting’s analysts put a spotlight today on MEMS packaging.

MEMS devices are characterized by a wide range of different designs and manufacturing technologies, with no standardized processes. As a consequence, many technical challenges are in place and create a strong competition between packaging companies.

“Players have to take into account specifies of each component as well as many application constraints, from the need to low cost packaging for consumer applications to the ability to withstand high temperature and harsh environment for automotive and aeronautics packaging,” explained Dr. Eric Mounier, Senior Technology & Market Analylst at Yole.

MEMS application scope is broad, very fragmented and diversified. Therefore, under its annual report, Status of the MEMS Industry, Yole’s MEMS & Sensors team analyzed more than 200+ applications. Thus, MEMS packaging must always cope with different end-application requirements. It includes for example, protection in different media, hermeticity, interconnection type, and thermal management. This context creates many issues within the packaging industry, which faces different package configurations (open/ closed package).

Under System Plus Consulting’s report, MEMS Packaging: Reverse Technology Review, the company analyzed more than 100 MEMS components developed by the major manufacturers. This review is a relevant comparison between the main existing packaging solutions. It includes the encapsulation processes, the preferred interconnection methods as well as the latest innovations. System Plus Consulting also evaluated the components in term of integration and functionalities.

“No tremendous changes in packaging platforms are expected,” commented Audrey Lahrach, in charge of costing analyses at System Plus Consulting.“But we rather see a change in the complexity of existing platforms to respond to the growing needs of sensor fusions.” Therefore, combining inertial and pressure sensors is now a reality. For example TDK/InvenSense released this month a high-performance “7-Axis” motion tracking device targeting drone applications and based on an exclusive assembly step stacking the 3-axis gyroscope, the 3-axis accelerometer and a barometric pressure sensor (1).

Driven by the complexity associated with the move to 5G and therefore the increasing demand for RF filters in 4G/5G, the largest MEMS growth will be for RF MEMS, especially BAW filters (2).
“The real opportunity of MEMS packaging is carried by RF MEMS devices as the number of units could be multiplied by five by 2022,” confirmed Dr. Mounier from Yole. Optical MEMS including micro mirrors and micro bolometers are second with a 28.5% CAGR, driven by consumer, automotive, and security applications.

Acoustic and ultrasonic sensors including microphones are third. Demand for audio processing is particularly strong, with high unit growth for MEMS microphones targeted at increasingly sophisticated applications that use the microphone to continuously sense what is happening around it.

But why is the MEMS packaging industry becoming so attractive? Yole identified several reasons:
“OSATs already have very low package margins due to fierce competition” asserted Emilie Jolivet, Technology & Market Analyst at Yole. And she added: “And it will be difficult for such companies to lower the cost further.”

The second factor is related to the importance of testing steps. Because every MEMS is different, testing strategies defined by MEMS devices manufacturers are usually dedicated to one device type and account for a significant fraction of the final cost.

The third reason is focused on the packaging’s material cost that is playing a key role within the attractiveness of the MEMS packaging business.

At the end, the strong CAGR of certain devices such as RF MEMS devices, also directly impacts the MEMS packaging industry with numerous opportunities to ensure larger volumes and better margins.

More than a dozen product categories in optoelectronics, sensors and actuators, and discretes semiconductors (O-S-D) are on track to set record-high annual sales this year, according to a new update of IC Insights’ 2017 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discrete Semiconductors.  Driven by the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), increasing levels of intelligent embedded controls, and some inventory replenishment in commodity discretes, the diverse O-S-D marketplace is having a banner year with combined sales across all three semiconductor segments expected to grow 10.5% in 2017 to a record-high $75.0 billion, says the O-S-D Report update.

In 2017, above average sales growth rates are being achieved in all but one major O-S-D product category—lamp devices, which are now expected to be flat in 2017 because of continued price erosion in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for solid-state lighting applications.  Figure 1 compares annual growth rates in five major O-S-D product categories, based on the updated 2017 sales projection.

Figure 1

Figure 1

For the first time since 2014, all three O-S-D market segments are on pace to see sales growth in 2017. Moreover, 2017 is expected to be the first year since 2011 when all three O-S-D market segments set record-high annual sales volumes, according to IC Insights’ update.

The 2017 double-digit percent increase will be the highest growth rate for combined O-S-D sales since the strong 2010 recovery from the 2009 semiconductor downturn that coincided with the 2008-2009 financial crisis and global economic recession.  Total O-S-D revenues are now forecast to reach a ninth consecutive annual record high level of $80.5 billion in 2018, which will be a 7.4% increase from 2017 sales, says the O-S-D Report update.

After a rare decline of 3.6% in 2016, optoelectronics is recovering this year with sales now projected to grow 8.1% in 2017 to an all-time high of $36.7 billion, thanks to strong double-digit sales increases in CMOS image sensors (+22%), light sensors (+19%), optical-network laser transmitters (+15%), and infrared devices (+14%).

Meanwhile, record-high revenues for sensors and actuators are being fueled by the expansion of IoT and new automated controls in a wide range of systems—including more self-driving features in cars. Sensors/actuator sales are now expected to climb 17.5% in 2017 to $13.9 billion, marking the strongest growth year for this market segment since 2010.  Sales of sensors and actuators made with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology are forecast to rise by 18.5% in 2017 to a record-high $11.6 billion.  The O-S-D Report update shows all-time high sales being reached in 2017 with strong double-digit growth in actuators (+20%), pressure sensor, including MEMS microphone chips (+18%), and acceleration/yaw sensors (+17%).

Even the commodity-filled discretes market is thriving in 2017 with worldwide sales projected to rise 10.3% to $24.1 billion, which will finally surpass the current peak of $23.4 billion set in 2011.  Sales of power transistors, which account for more than half of the discretes market segment, are forecast to grow 9.0% in 2017 to a record-high $14.0 billion, according to the new O-S-D Report update.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) today debuted two significant technology breakthroughs at the largest fintech innovation event, Money 20/20, October 22-25, 2017, in Las Vegas. The company will showcase its new contactless fingerprint-on-card solution while also demonstrating a new world benchmark for payment card transactions speeds.

Fingerprint sensors on payment cards

The fingerprint-on-card solution gives payment network operators and banks a secure, convenient and fast payment card option to consumers. Coupling dual interface cards with an integrated fingerprint sensor enables faster transactions without the need for end-users to enter a PIN number.

“The result provides a secure and dramatically more convenient way for consumers to make payments. The convenience provided by mobile payment in today’s NFC-based mobile wallets can now be replicated with cards. It is also ideal for use in other form factors and applications such as electronic passports,” said Rafael Sotomayor, senior vice president and general manager of secure transactions and identification business. “The breakthrough reinforces NXP’s commitment to the payment and secure identification space by helping our customers deliver next-generation applications and solutions to the market.”

To ensure a lower barrier of entry for card makers, the company’s secure fingerprint authentication solution on cards does not require a battery and easily fits into standard card maker equipment as part of the broader payment ecosystem. Cards with fingerprint authentication are fully compliant with existing EMVCo point-of-sales (POS) systems.

New Benchmark for Blazing Transaction Speeds

Demonstrating seamless, fast, and smart card transaction experiences, the NXP high-performance platform makes it possible to achieve M/Chip transactions speeds of <200 ms, surpassing the industry requirement of 300 ms.

“This increased level of performance offers flexibility to add new features or higher crypto countermeasures and still meet current industry transaction requirement,” said Sotomayor. “The requirement for faster payment transaction will continue, and NXP is committed to providing the performance to meet these needs and make contactless transactions faster and flawless.”

NXP Demonstrations at Money 20/20 Las Vegas 2017

NXP will demonstrate these technology breakthroughs at its exclusive reception on October 24, 2017, in The Venetian.

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, and Knowles Corporation (NYSE: KN), jointly announced today that Microsemi has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the high performance timing business of Vectron International, a Knowles company, for $130 million.

Vectron is a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of frequency control, sensor and hybrid solutions using the very latest techniques in both bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based designs from DC to microwave frequencies. Products include crystals and crystal oscillators; frequency translators; clock and data recovery products; SAW filters; SAW oscillators; crystal filters; SAW and BAW based sensors and components used in telecommunications, data communications, frequency synthesizers, timing, navigation, military, aerospace, medical and instrumentation systems.

“Microsemi is focused on building the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of high value timing solutions,” said James J. Peterson, Microsemi’s chairman and CEO. “Vectron’s highly complementary technology suite expands our product offering with differentiated technology and allows Microsemi to sell more to its tier one customers in the aerospace and defense, communications and industrial markets while improving upon the operating performance of the combined model as we execute on significant synergy opportunities.”

Microsemi expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive once closed.  The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is currently expected to close in Microsemi’s fiscal first quarter ending December 2017.

As of this date, Microsemi remains comfortable with its July 28, 2017 non-GAAP guidance for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2017 ended Oct. 1, 2017. Microsemi currently intends to announce its fourth fiscal quarter results on Nov. 9, 2017.

The number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices worldwide will jump 12 percent on average annually, from nearly 27 billion in 2017 to 125 billion in 2030, according to new analysis from IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

In a new free ebook entitled “The Internet of Things: a movement, not a market,” IHS Markit details how the IoT is revolutionizing the competitive landscape by transforming everyday business practices and opening new windows of opportunity.

According to the ebook, global data transmissions are expected to increase from 20 to 25 percent annually to 50 percent per year, on average, in the next 15 years.

“The emerging IoT movement is impacting virtually all stages of industry and nearly all market areas — from raw materials to production to distribution and even the consumption of final goods,” said Jenalea Howell, research director for IoT connectivity and smart cities at IHS Markit. “This represents a constantly evolving movement of profound change in how humans interact with machines, information and even each other.”

IHS Markit has identified four foundational, interconnected pillars at the core of the IoT movement: connect, collect, compute and create. The entire IoT is built upon these four innovational pillars:

  • New connections of devices and information
  • Enhanced collection of data that grows from the connections of devices and information
  • Advanced computation that transforms collected data into new possibilities
  • Unique creation of new interactions, business models and solutions.

“While internet-connected devices hold tremendous potential, many companies are having difficulty identifying a consistent IoT strategy,” Howell said. “The four Cs of IoT — connect, collect, compute, create — offer a pathway to navigate and take advantage of the changes and opportunities brought about by the IoT revolution.”