Category Archives: Device Architecture

By Emmy Yi, SEMI Taiwan

 

Since Apple unveiled iPhone X with face-recognition functionality in early November 2017, interest in 3D sensing technology has reached fever pitch and attracted huge investments across the related supply chains. The global market for 3D depth sensing is estimated at US$1.5 billion in 2017 and will grow at a CAGR of 209 percent to US$14 billion in 2020, Trendforce estimates. This trend pushes up demand for Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), a key component for 3D depth sensing technology. SEMI estimates that the global VCSEL market will grow at a CAGR of 17.3 percent between 2016 and 2022, and the total value of the market is expected to reach US$1 billion by 2022.

This SEMI 3D Depth Sensing & VCSEL Technology Seminar attracted more than 600 industry experts.

This SEMI 3D Depth Sensing & VCSEL Technology Seminar attracted more than 600 industry experts.

In light of the significant market growth potential and business opportunities, SEMI Taiwan recently organized the 3D Depth Sensing & VCSEL Technology Seminar, where industry experts from Qualcomm, Lumentum, Himax, Vertilite and IQE gathered to explore the technology trends and potentials from different perspectives. Following are the key takeaways from the Forum:

Not just iPhoneX! Expect a boom in 3D depth sensing

The real-time and depth cue feature of the 3D sensor is essential to enable the next-generation computer vision (CV) applications. Improvements in 3D recognition, machine learning, and 3D image segmentation promise to stoke significant growth across a wide range of applications including long-range automotive LiDAR, short-distance AR/VR devices, facial recognition in the low-light environment inside a car and more.

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Improvements in component R&D, algorithm writing, and supply chain integration will further expand the 3D sensing market.

Why VCSELs?

Structured light and time of flight (TOF) are currently the two key approaches to 3D sensing, and VCSEL is the core light source for both technologies. VCSEL’s advantages of small footprint, low cost, low power consumption, circular beam shape, optical efficiency, wavelength stability over temperature and high modulating rate are all indispensable for 3D sensing to flourish. In the longer term, improvements in component R&D, algorithm writing, and supply chain integration will further expand the 3D sensing market.

Optimistic about the proliferation of 3D sensing applications, The SEMI Taiwan Power and Compound Semiconductor Committee plans to organize a special interest group to better respond to technology evolution and rising applications of the emerging optoelectronic semiconductor and to drive innovations and development of the industry. SEMICON Taiwan 2018 will also include a theme pavilion and a series of events to enable more communications and collaborations. To learn more, please contact Emmy Yi, SEMI Taiwan, at [email protected] or +886.3.560.1777 #205.

A silicon-based quantum computing device could be closer than ever due to a new experimental device that demonstrates the potential to use light as a messenger to connect quantum bits of information — known as qubits — that are not immediately adjacent to each other. The feat is a step toward making quantum computing devices from silicon, the same material used in today’s smartphones and computers.

In a step forward for quantum computing in silicon -- the same material used in today's computers -- researchers successfully coupled a single electron's spin, represented by the dot on the left, to light, represented as a wave passing over the electron, which is trapped in a double-welled silicon chamber known as a quantum dot. The goal is to use light to carry quantum information to other locations on a futuristic quantum computing chip. Credit: Image courtesy of Emily Edwards, University of Maryland.

In a step forward for quantum computing in silicon — the same material used in today’s computers — researchers successfully coupled a single electron’s spin, represented by the dot on the left, to light, represented as a wave passing over the electron, which is trapped in a double-welled silicon chamber known as a quantum dot. The goal is to use light to carry quantum information to other locations on a futuristic quantum computing chip. Credit: Image courtesy of Emily Edwards, University of Maryland.

The research, published in the journal Nature, was led by researchers at Princeton University in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the Joint Quantum Institute, which is a partnership of the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The team created qubits from single electrons trapped in silicon chambers known as double quantum dots. By applying a magnetic field, they showed they could transfer quantum information, encoded in the electron property known as spin, to a particle of light, or photon, opening the possibility of transmitting the quantum information.

“This is a breakout year for silicon spin qubits,” said Jason Petta, professor of physics at Princeton. “This work expands our efforts in a whole new direction, because it takes you out of living in a two-dimensional landscape, where you can only do nearest-neighbor coupling, and into a world of all-to-all connectivity,” he said. “That creates flexibility in how we make our devices.”

Quantum devices offer computational possibilities that are not possible with today’s computers, such as factoring large numbers and simulating chemical reactions. Unlike conventional computers, the devices operate according to the quantum mechanical laws that govern very small structures such as single atoms and sub-atomic particles. Major technology firms are already building quantum computers based on superconducting qubits and other approaches.

“This result provides a path to scaling up to more complex systems following the recipe of the semiconductor industry,” said Guido Burkard, professor of physics at the University of Konstanz, who provided guidance on theoretical aspects in collaboration with Monica Benito, a postdoctoral researcher. “That is the vision, and this is a very important step.”

Jacob Taylor, a member of the team and a fellow at the Joint Quantum Institute, likened the light to a wire that can connect spin qubits. “If you want to make a quantum computing device using these trapped electrons, how do you send information around on the chip? You need the quantum computing equivalent of a wire.”

Silicon spin qubits are more resilient than competing qubit technologies to outside disturbances such as heat and vibrations, which disrupt inherently fragile quantum states. The simple act of reading out the results of a quantum calculation can destroy the quantum state, a phenomenon known as “quantum demolition.”

The researchers theorize that the current approach may avoid this problem because it uses light to probe the state of the quantum system. Light is already used as a messenger to bring cable and internet signals into homes via fiber optic cables, and it is also being used to connect superconducting qubit systems, but this is one of the first applications in silicon spin qubits.

In these qubits, information is represented by the electron’s spin, which can point up or down. For example, a spin pointing up could represent a 0 and a spin pointing down could represent a 1. Conventional computers, in contrast, use the electron’s charge to encode information.

Connecting silicon-based qubits so that they can talk to each other without destroying their information has been a challenge for the field. Although the Princeton-led team successfully coupled two neighboring electron spins separated by only 100 nanometers (100 billionths of a meter), as published in Science in December 2017, coupling spin to light, which would enable long-distance spin-spin coupling, has remained a challenge until now.

In the current study, the team solved the problem of long-distance communication by coupling the qubit’s information — that is, whether the spin points up or down — to a particle of light, or photon, which is trapped above the qubit in the chamber. The photon’s wave-like nature allows it to oscillate above the qubit like an undulating cloud.

Graduate student Xiao Mi and colleagues figured out how to link the information about the spin’s direction to the photon, so that the light can pick up a message, such as “spin points up,” from the qubit. “The strong coupling of a single spin to a single photon is an extraordinarily difficult task akin to a perfectly choreographed dance,” Mi said. “The interaction between the participants — spin, charge and photon — needs to be precisely engineered and protected from environmental noise, which has not been possible until now.” The team at Princeton included postdoctoral fellow Stefan Putz and graduate student David Zajac.

The advance was made possible by tapping into light’s electromagnetic wave properties. Light consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields, and the researchers succeeded in coupling the light’s electric field to the electron’s spin state.

The researchers did so by building on team’s finding published in December 2016 in the journal Science that demonstrated coupling between a single electron charge and a single particle of light.

To coax the qubit to transmit its spin state to the photon, the researchers place the electron spin in a large magnetic field gradient such that the electron spin has a different orientation depending on which side of the quantum dot it occupies. The magnetic field gradient, combined with the charge coupling demonstrated by the group in 2016, couples the qubit’s spin direction to the photon’s electric field.

Ideally, the photon will then deliver the message to another qubit located within the chamber. Another possibility is that the photon’s message could be carried through wires to a device that reads out the message. The researchers are working on these next steps in the process.

Several steps are still needed before making a silicon-based quantum computer, Petta said. Everyday computers process billions of bits, and although qubits are more computationally powerful, most experts agree that 50 or more qubits are needed to achieve quantum supremacy, where quantum computers would start to outshine their classical counterparts.

Daniel Loss, a professor of physics at the University of Basel in Switzerland who is familiar with the work but not directly involved, said: “The work by Professor Petta and collaborators is one of the most exciting breakthroughs in the field of spin qubits in recent years. I have been following Jason’s work for many years and I’m deeply impressed by the standards he has set for the field, and once again so with this latest experiment to appear in Nature. It is a big milestone in the quest of building a truly powerful quantum computer as it opens up a pathway for cramming hundreds of millions of qubits on a square-inch chip. These are very exciting developments for the field ¬– and beyond.”

The latest market research report by Technavio on the global semiconductor IP market predicts a CAGR of close to 10% during the period 2018-2022.

The report segments the global semiconductor IP market by application (healthcare, networking, industrial automation, automotive, consumer electronics, and mobile computing devices), by end-user (fabless semiconductor companies, IDMs, and foundries), and by geography (North America, APAC, and Europe). It provides a detailed illustration of the major factors influencing the market, including drivers, opportunities, trends, and industry-specific challenges.

Here are some key findings of the global semiconductor IP market, according to Technavio hardware and semiconductor researchers:

  • Complex chip designs and use of multi-core technologies: a major market driver
  • Proliferation of wireless technologies: emerging market trend
  • North America dominated the global semiconductor IP market with 47% share in 2016

Complex chip designs and use of multi-core technologies: a major market driver

Nowadays, the electronic device manufacturers develop products that have better functionalities while offering power-packed performances as compared to their earlier products. This is driving the semiconductor chip manufacturers to ensure that their IC designs are capable of and reliable for offer maximum use in terms of performance, which is propelling the product development process in the semiconductor industry.

Players in the market are competing against each other based on timely delivery of offerings while ensuring high performing and multi-functional devices. Semiconductor manufacturers are incorporating new and complex architecture and designs of semiconductor ICs to deliver high-end multi-functional products. For example, 3D ICs are compact, consume less power, and are more efficient in performance. They have a complex electronic circuit design and manufacturing process. Such complexity tends to hamper the overall productivity of the industry.

 

Proliferation of wireless technologies: emerging market trend

In the last 25 years, IoT has evolved a great deal. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) that was in the development phase since 1990 is replacing Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). This allows many hosts to connect to the Internet and increases the data traffic that can be transmitted.

The popularity of mobile computing devices has helped the network traffic to grow at an exponential rate. This led to the continued deployment of next-generation wireless standards such as 4G and 5G, and wireless technologies such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and Z-Wave across the globe. Such wireless standards and wireless technologies offer a wireless connection that is equivalent to broadband connections that have resulted in an increase in the number of users accessing the Internet from anywhere and at any time.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for research on semiconductor equipment, “At present, ZigBee is one of the three leading wireless technology used for connected devices such as connected bulbs, remote controls, smart meters, smart thermostats, and set-top boxes. High-bandwidth and content-rich applications such as audio, video, gaming, and Internet use the Wi-Fi technology. BLE is used for low power applications and is primarily used to connect wearables to smartphones. ZigBee is a low power version of Wi-Fi which is appropriate for smart home applications such as lighting, remote controls, security, and thermostats.”

Global market opportunities

In terms of regional dominance, North America led the global semiconductor IP market, followed by APAC and Europe in 2017. However, APAC is expected to grow at a faster rate due to increased prevalence of orthopedic surgical procedures. The emerging economies like China and Taiwan contributed to the growth of this market in APAC.

The market share of North America is expected to decrease during the forecast period due to factors such as strong governmental policies against exports from the governments of South Korea, Japan, China, and India, who want to become completely self-sufficient in the semiconductor industry.

 

SiFive, the provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP, continues to grow its executive staff with the appointment of Shiva Natarajan as chief financial officer. Natarajan joins SiFive with more than two decades of financial management, accounting and strategic planning experience in both public and private technology companies.

As CFO, Natarajan will help to structure the company’s financial systems and oversee SiFive’s continued growth as it rolls out its innovative business model.

“I am excited to join one of the most unique teams in the world that is disrupting the semiconductor market using RISC-V technology,” said Natarajan. “I look forward to applying my experience to help guide the company through its continued, explosive growth.”

Since its founding in 2015, SiFive has grown exponentially with the RISC-V ecosystem, and the company is projecting to double its employee count in 2018 to support the increased demand for its market-leading RISC-V product offerings. The expansion includes the recent appointments of Sunil Shenoy as vice president of hardware engineering and Shafy Eltoukhy as vice president of operations.

“SiFive is at a crucial point in its development, and Shiva’s experience in navigating the growth path of expanding companies will help guide the next phase of SiFive’s growth,” said Naveed Sherwani, SiFive CEO. “Shiva will provide us with the financial vision, strategy and leadership to advance SiFive to the next level.”

Before joining SiFive, Natarajan was vice president of finance at A10 Networks. Earlier in his career, Natarajan served as vice president, corporate controller, chief accounting officer and interim CFO during his eight years at Applied Micro Circuits Corporation.

Natarajan began his career in public accounting and worked for PwC and Ernst & Young. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Calcutta.

By Cherry Sun, SEMI China

Yawning differences between cultures, economic systems and rules of law stand as barriers for many China- and US-based technology companies to do business on each other’s soil, making it imperative for both countries to work together to bridge the gaps that make it harder for tech businesses in each country to find partners and open markets in the other, SEMI China president Lung Chu said at a recent conference.

One answer is for SEMI, serving as a natural unifying communications platform, to help foster greater cooperation between US and China tech companies, Lung Chu said, speaking at the 2nd Silicon Valley Beijing International IoT Summit & Investment and Financing Competition in Santa Clara last month. The event gathered industry experts and experts to mine opportunities across technologies including smart and mobile medical care, virtual and augmented reality, wearables, smart homes, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) and manufacturing design.

In the IoT roundtable chaired by Chu, he asked mayors and other city officials from Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Cupertino to consider the potential of IoT technology for improving city management. Inspired by the idea of greater efficiency, the mayors pointed to IoT applications including traffic management to better regulate traffic flow; faster, more effective medical treatment from first responders and emergency medical technicians; more efficient energy usage by cities and the public; better water resources management; and bicycle sharing programs for commuters.

Deploying more advanced networking architectures, the mayors agreed, is the first step for cities seeking to fulfill the promise of IoT. A recognized global leader in smart city technologies, China is much more than a key trade partner with the U.S., having developed IoT use cases for cities in Silicon Valley and beyond to consider.

Chu also asked the mayors about the importance to their cities of attracting talent and encouraging entrepreneurship. The roundtable agreed that in Silicon Valley, taking risks in hopes of reaping huge profits is prized and that failure is embraced as necessary to innovation. In China, pressure on business startups to flourish can inhibit the free-wheeling thinking and calculated risk-taking often needed to build new enterprises.

On talent, one mayor underscored the importance of diversity in building a skilled workforce. According to a recent report based on 2016 census data, nearly three-quarters – about 71 percent of tech employees in Silicon Valley – “are foreign born, compared to around 50 percent in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward region,” The Mercury News reported. Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, has noted that this “diversity is the strength of Silicon Valley.”

Much as China can turn to Silicon Valley as a model of entrepreneurship and diversity, the U.S. can learn from China’s deployment of IoT technologies to power smart cities as the country’s prominence in the semiconductor manufacturing industry continues to grow. An ally in that rising influence, SEMI China follows the 5C principles – Connect, Collaboration, Community, Communication, China – to help narrow the differences between China and other countries and foster stronger partnerships.

Originally published on the SEMI blog.

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions, announced today it now offers the 2nd generation of 0.13 micron BCD process technology integrated with high-density embedded Flash memory. This second-generation BCD process offers advanced features compared to previous BCD processes, which are high-density Flash memory up to 64 kilo bytes, low specific Ron of power LDMOS up to 40V, low number of photo steps and automotive grade reliability. These characteristics make the new generation of BCD process technology highly suitable for programmable PMICs, wireless power chargers, USB-C power-delivery IC products and automotive power ICs.

Traditionally, the non-volatile memories in the BCD process are low in density, below 256 bytes, for trimming purposes. However, today’s electronic devices require more complex functions and lower power consumption. As a result, there is a greater market need for high-density embedded non-volatile memory in the BCD process. This memory includes Flash memory used for power ICs, including programmable PMICs, wireless power chargers and USB-C power-delivery ICs. In some applications, high-density Flash memory up to 64 kilo bytes is used to store programming codes as well as trimming data. Until now, the drawback of implementing high-density embedded memory in other BCD processes has been that it increases the overall number of manufacturing steps.

MagnaChip was able to eliminate 8 photo steps in the second-generation BCD process from the 1st generation by process optimization. Aside from embedded non-volatile memory, the 2nd generation also achieved the improvement of power LDMOS specific Ron performance, which is well suited for high-power requirements up to 40V operation. For IoT and automotive applications, this BCD process provides 1.5V and 5V CMOS devices with very low leakage current level that enables low power consumption. Furthermore, this new BCD process has various option devices for Hall sensors, varactors, inductors, and RF CMOS devices that are useful for highly integrated IC solutions, which give smaller system size and less system cost.

YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip, commented, “The integration of analog-based BCD and high density non-volatile memory enables highly suitable ICs and system designs for power management solutions, wireless chargers and power ICs used in smartphones, IoT devices and automotive applications.” Mr. Kim added, “Our goal is to continue to develop specialized and innovative process technologies that meet the changing market requirements of our foundry customers.”

NUST MISIS scientists jointly with an international group of scientists have managed to develop a composite material that has the best piezoelectric properties today. The research results were published in Scientific Reports journal.

Topography (a), PFM images of a pristine state (b) and after poling by +/?60V (c). Credit: ©NUST MISIS

Topography (a), PFM images of a pristine state (b) and after poling by +/?60V (c). Credit: ©NUST MISIS

Piezoelectrics are one of the world`s most amazing materials. It is possible to literally squeeze electricity from them. That is, an electric charge appears at the time of the material`s compression (or stretching). This is called the piezoelectric effect. Piezoelectric materials can be applied in many fields – from pressure sensors and sensitive elements of a microphone to the controller ink pressing in ink-jet printers and quartz resonators.

Lead zirconate titanate is one of the most popular piezoelectric materials. However, it has several disadvantages: it is heavy and inflexible. Additionally, lead production often causes great harm to the environment. That is why scientists are constantly looking for new materials with low lead content as well as with less weight and greater flexibility. In particular, the creation of flexible piezoelectric materials (while maintaining the key properties) would greatly expand piezoelectric materials` possibilities both as acoustic membrane and as pressure sensors.

An international team of scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany), NUST MISIS, National Research Tomsk State University and the National Research University of Electronic Technology, working with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation (grant 16-19-10112), has managed to create such a material and analyze its properties. For this, the nanoparticles consisting of titanate-zicronate barium-lead were placed in a complex polymer consisting of vinylidene disluoride and trifluoroethylene. By diversifying the composition of the components, scientists were able to get the most ideal composite.

The Russian-German group of scientists, including Dmitri Kiselev, a Senior Researcher at the NUST MISIS R&D Center for Materials Science & Metallurgy, has managed to create a composite material based on ceramics and organic polymer whose properties exceed today`s best piezoelectric materials. The research’s experimental part was carried out with an atomic-force microscope in the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Thanks to this scientific collaboration, Dmitri Kiselev has gained skills from the world`s best scanning probe microscope, which he can later apply at NUST MISIS», said Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of NUST MISIS.

According to Dmitri Kiselev, the developed material has a very distinct field of application due to its polymer component: «Composite materials based on polymer and classic ferroelectrics, which have piezo- and pyroelectric properties, have a number of advantages compared to pure ceramics: low density, the ability to manufacture parts of any size and shape, mechanical elasticity, stability of electrophysical properties, and the simplicity and relatively low cost of production. Additionally, the synthesized composite has proved to be excellent at high pressures which makes it an excellent base for pressure sensors».

According to Kiselev, to study the composite they had to modify the standard technique which allowed them to correctly visualize the nanoparticles of ceramics in the volume of the polymer matrix: «In order to capture the electrical signal more clearly, we heated our sample in a certain way from room temperature to 60 degrees Celsius. It allowed us to measure the material’s characteristics very qualitatively and reproducibly. Our method will greatly simplify the work of our colleagues in the study of composites, so I hope that it will be in demand among our colleagues microscopists».

«It is now easier for Russian scientists to carry out world-class measurements as the MFP 3D Stand ?lone (Asylum Research) microscope is now available at the NUST MISIS Center for Collaborative Use, hence why we are now actively collaborating with several institutes from the Russian Academy of Sciences as well as other Moscow universities», Kiselev concluded.

 

Applied Materials, Inc. announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, on its 2018 list as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies.

“Ethical business conduct at Applied Materials extends far beyond a set of rules or policies; it is engrained in our values and reflected in the actions of our employees every day,” said Steve Adams, vice president, Litigation, Protection and Compliance at Applied Materials. “I want to thank everyone throughout the company for maintaining responsibility and integrity in all our business and community interactions.”

Applied Materials has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for seven consecutive years. It is one of only six honorees in the Electronics & Semiconductors category.

“I congratulate everyone at Applied Materials for again being recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies,” said Ethisphere’s CEO, Timothy Erblich. “Amidst a rapidly changing technology industry, it is encouraging to see companies like Applied that remain true to their values and continually raise the bar for responsible corporate citizenship.”

This year, Ethisphere recognized 135 companies, spanning 23 countries and 57 industries. These honorees each demonstrated record levels of involvement with their stakeholders and their communities. Listed companies make it a priority to measure and improve corporate culture around ethical practices, to lead authentically and to commit to transparency, diversity and inclusion.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies list is based upon the Ethics Quotient framework, which quantitatively measures a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. Scores are generated in five categories: ethics and compliance program; corporate citizenship and responsibility; culture of ethics; governance; and leadership, innovation and reputation.

The full list of the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.

 

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) today announced that Doug Alexander and MaryFrances McCourt have been appointed as new members of the Company’s Board of Directors. With these appointments, Amkor’s Board has been expanded to twelve members.

“We are pleased to have Doug and MaryFrances join Amkor’s Board,” said James Kim, Amkor’s Executive Chairman. “The demonstrated leadership skills and breadth of experience that they each bring to the Board will be great assets to the Company.”

Mr. Alexander was an original member of the advisory board of Actua Corporation (formerly named ICG Group, Inc.), a multi-vertical cloud technology company. Mr. Alexander joined Actua full-time in September 1997 as Managing Director and was appointed President in January 2009 where he served until December 2017. During his tenure at Actua, Mr. Alexander served in many senior management roles including as CEO of WiseWire Technologies, which was acquired by Lycos; CEO of ICG Europe; CEO of Traffic.com, which was acquired by Navteq; and CEO of Channel Intelligence, which was acquired by Google.

Mr. Alexander has served on the boards of directors for GovDelivery, Procurian, and Bolt. Mr. Alexander has also served as the Co-Chairman of the Philadelphia National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and is Chairman of the Management & Technology Executive Board at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Alexander holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. McCourt is Vice President for Finance and Treasurer at the University of Pennsylvania. In her role, Ms. McCourt leads Penn’s cash and short-term investment and capital financing strategies as well as oversees Penn’s financial functions. Ms. McCourt is responsible for the University’s multi-year financial planning efforts and collaborates closely with Penn Medicine leadership on its growth and financial planning. She directly manages the strategic and operational direction of a variety of functions, including the Comptrollers Office, financial training, global support services, research services, risk management and insurance, student registration and financial services and the Treasurer’s Office.

Prior to joining Penn, Ms. McCourt was the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University. Ms. McCourt has also served in financial-management positions for Agilysis, Inc., a diversified enterprise focused on technology and enterprise system solutions.

She earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Duke University and an MBA from Case Western University.

 

By Jamie Girard and Jay Chittooran, SEMI Public Policy

With much pride, President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address last week, touted the signature legislative achievement of his first year in office – passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  As companies doing business globally, SEMI members have long stressed their concern that the US business tax code was putting them at a disadvantage.  SEMI has worked for many years to voice its position that the US code needed to be reformed to lower the overall tax rate on businesses while also retaining incentives for innovation, like the research and development (R&D) and tax credits.  SEMI also pushed for the US to move to a territorial tax system to bring the US into alignment with the rest of the world.

President Donald Trump, State of the Union speech. Photo credit: CNN

President Donald Trump, State of the Union speech. Photo credit: CNN

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act implements all the of principle that SEMI members have advocated for, and included other industry priorities like repatriation of foreign held assets at a lower rate.  The new structure promises to allow for a more competitive business environment for companies doing business from the US, and greater growth for them globally.

“As tax cuts create new jobs, let us invest in workforce development and job training,” Trump noted in his State of the Union speech, addressing another major industry priority. “Let us open great vocational schools so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential.”

Workforce development (Talent) is a critical issue for the industry, and SEMI recognizes the pressing need on multiple fronts to find the workers, both technical and highly-educated, to continue the work of driving innovation in the semiconductor industry.  While SEMI works with industry partners to boost the industry talent pool, we also recognize that the federal government has a role to play in ensuring that the US is doing its share to help address the problem. That’s why SEMI supports legislation like H.R. 4023, the Developing Tomorrow’s Engineering and Technical Workforce Act, aimed at providing federal dollars to promote engineering education at all levels of learning. The bill has bipartisan support in Congress, and SEMI will continue to work to see the bill travel to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

Facilitating trade and lowering barriers for good and services to move across borders is key to SEMI’s mission to support its members. The semiconductor industry has catalyzed growth across the global economy – growth that relies heavily on trade.

“America has also finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs, and our nation’s wealth,” Trump noted last Tuesday. “The era of economic surrender is over. From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal. We will work to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones.”

Unfortunately, trade has been turned into a hot-button political issue, raising many new trade challenges to companies throughout the semiconductor industry. The Trump Administration has levied intense criticism of China, launched a number of trade investigations citing foreign overproduction, and has threatened to withdraw from the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). The United States has also levied tariffs on a number of products, including solar cells. This is all on top of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) modernization talks, which have seen slow and shallow progress.

While the United States “reexamines” and stands still, other countries are filling the leadership void. China, Canada, Korea, and the European Union, among others, are negotiating or have concluded trade deals in the last year. Indeed, the updated Trans-Pacific Partnership, which now excludes the US but covers many of the fastest-growing Asian markets, is on track to be enacted by the end of the year. SEMI will continue to work on behalf of its members around the globe to open up new markets and lessen the burden of regulations on cross-border trade and commerce.

Additionally, although President Trump devoted much his address to immigration, he overlooked the opportunity to address the need for immigration reform for high-skilled workers.  This important aspect of the immigration debate, which also has major implications for economic growth, will fall to Congress to sort out in any immigration package it considers in the coming weeks.

Fortunately, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently reintroduced his Immigration Innovation Act, also known as “I-Squared,” which would implement a number of reforms to the H1-B visa and green card system for highly-skilled workers.  The bill would raise the cap for H1-B visas from the current 65,000 to allow for as many as 190,000 in good economic times, while also lifting the cap on greed card holders with STEM degrees from US institutions.  SEMI has long supported these efforts and will continue to work with policymakers to see reforms implemented to improve the system.

While partisanship in Washington remains high, SEMI continues to work on behalf of its members to advance crucial public policy matters for its members with policymakers in Washington, DC. In particular, SEMI focuses on how these issues impact the four 4T’s – Trade, Taxes, Technology and Talent. The path forward on many of these issues will be complicated by midterm election year politics, but the opportunity remains to see real positive changes enacted, even in such a challenging environment.

If you’d like more information on SEMI’s public policy work, or how you can be involved, please contact Jamie Girard at [email protected].