Category Archives: Metrology

IC Insights’ November Update to the 2018 McClean Report, released later this month, includes a discussion of the forecasted top-25 semiconductor suppliers in 2018 (the top-15 2018 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin).  The Update also includes a detailed five-year forecast of the IC market by product type (including dollar volume, unit shipments, and average selling price).

The expected top-15 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O-S-D—optoelectronic, sensor, and discrete) sales ranking for 2018 is shown in Figure 1.  It includes seven suppliers headquartered in the U.S., three in Europe, two each in South Korea and Japan, and one in Taiwan.  After announcing in early April 2018 that it had successfully moved its headquarters location from Singapore to the U.S., IC Insights now classifies Broadcom as a U.S. company.

In 2Q18, Toshiba completed the $18.0 billion sale of its memory IC business to the Bain Capital-led consortium. Toshiba then repurchased a 40.2% share of the business.  The Bain consortium goes by the name of BCPE Pangea and the group owns 49.9% of Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC).  Hoya Corp. owns the remaining 9.9% of TMC’s shares.  The new owners have plans for an IPO within three years. Bain has said it plans to support the business in pursing M&A targets, including potentially large deals.

As a result of the sale of Toshiba’s memory business, the 2018 sales results shown in Figure 1 include the combined sales of the remaining semiconductor products at Toshiba (e.g., Discrete devices and System LSIs) and NAND flash sales from Toshiba Memory Corporation.

In total, the top-15 semiconductor companies’ sales are forecast to jump by 18% in 2018 compared to 2017, two points higher than the expected total worldwide semiconductor industry 2018/2017 increase of 16%.  The three largest memory suppliers—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—are each forecast to register greater than 25% year-over-year growth in 2018 with SK Hynix expected to log the highest growth among the top 15 companies with a 41% surge in sales this year.  All of the top-15 companies are expected to have sales of at least $8.0 billion in this year, two companies more than in 2017.  Nine of the top-15 companies are forecast to register double-digit year-over-year growth in 2018.  Moreover, five companies are expected to have ≥20% growth, including four of the big memory suppliers (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and Western Digital/SanDisk) as well as Nvidia.

Figure 1

The largest move upward in the ranking is forecast to come from Western Digital/San Disk, which is expected to move up three spots to the 12th position.  In contrast, NXP is expected to fall two places to 13th with a sales increase of only 1% this year.  However, the worst-performing company in the ranking is forecast to be Qualcomm with a semiconductor revenue decline of 3% this year, the only top-15 company expected to register a drop in sales.

Intel was the number one ranked semiconductor supplier in 1Q17 but lost its lead spot to Samsung in 2Q17. It also fell from the top spot in the full-year 2017 ranking, a position it had held since 1993.  With the strong surge in the DRAM and NAND flash markets over the past year, Samsung is forecast to go from having 7% more total semiconductor sales than Intel in 2017 to having 19% more semiconductor sales than Intel in 2018.

Memory devices are forecast to represent 84% of Samsung’s semiconductor sales in 2018, up three points from 81% in 2017 and up 10 points from 71% just two years earlier in 2016.  Moreover, the company’s non-memory sales in 2018 are expected to be only $13.3 billion, up only 6% from 2017’s non-memory sales level of $12.5 billion. In contrast, Samsung’s memory sales are forecast to be up 31% this year and reach $70.0 billion.

The top-15 ranking includes one pure-play foundry (TSMC) and three fabless companies.  If TSMC were excluded from the top-15 ranking, Taiwan-based MediaTek would have been ranked in the 15th position with forecasted 2018 sales of $7.9 billion, up only 1% from 2017.

IC Insights includes foundries in the top-15 semiconductor supplier ranking since it has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases the semiconductor sales are double counted.  With many of our clients being vendors to the semiconductor industry (supplying equipment, chemicals, gases, etc.), excluding large IC manufacturers like the foundries would leave significant “holes” in the list of top semiconductor suppliers.  Foundries and fabless companies are identified in the Figure.  In the April Update to The McClean Report, marketshare rankings of IC suppliers by product type were presented and foundries were excluded from these listings.

Overall, the top-15 list is provided as a guideline to identify which companies are the leading semiconductor suppliers, whether they are IDMs, fabless companies, or foundries.

SEMI, the global industry association serving the electronics manufacturing supply chain, today voiced support and encouragement for trade discussions between U.S. President Donald Trump and People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping – talks that are planned for Dec. 1 during the G20 Summit in Argentina. Representing the semiconductor industry end-to-end, from chip design through manufacturing, SEMI expressed hope for a deal and offered principles beneficial to the global microelectronics manufacturing supply chain.

“With SEMI members being key enablers of the more than $2 trillion electronics manufacturing supply chain, SEMI has a clear foundational mission based on free and fair trade, open markets, and support for international laws governing IP, cybersecurity and national security,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. “Adhering to these principles benefits all SEMI member companies and the global ecosystem of industries and applications enabled by semiconductor manufacturing. I commend our global government leaders for returning to the negotiating table.”

Recent tariffs and trade tensions, on top of newly imposed and rumored export controls, have complicated the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, forcing many SEMI member companies to rethink their investment strategies. Over the past six months, SEMI has testified that tariffs threaten to undercut the ability of many SEMI members to sell overseas by increasing costs, stifling innovation, and curbing U.S. technological leadership.

SEMI continues to educate U.S. lawmakers, as well as governments worldwide, about the critical importance of free and fair trade, open markets, and respect and enforcement of IP for all players in the global electronics manufacturing supply chain. As part of this initiative, SEMI is providing the 10 Principles for the Global Semiconductor Supply Chain in Modern Trade Agreements below to government officials and encouraging them to include these guidelines in forward-looking agreements.

These core principles outline the primary considerations for balanced trade rules that benefit SEMI members around the world, strengthen innovation and perpetuate the societal benefits of affordable microelectronics – essential components in all advanced communications, computing, transportation, healthcare and consumer electronics.

10 Principles for the Global Semiconductor Supply Chain in Modern Trade Agreements

1. Affirm principles of non-discrimination.

Non-discriminatory treatment is a central tenet of the global trading system. SEMI strongly believes that any trade deal should provide that all products from a party to the deal cannot be put at a competitive disadvantage in any other party’s market. Related, any agreement must be fully compliant with the World Trade Organization’s rules.

2. Maintain strong respect for intellectual property and trade secrets through robust safeguards and significant penalties for violators.

Protection for intellectual property are essential for the semiconductor industry. These standards enable the ability to innovate and grow. SEMI supports robust copyright standards, strong patent protections, and regulations that safeguard industrial design. SEMI also strongly supports rules that preserve trade secrets protection, including establishing criminal procedures and penalties for theft, including by means of cyber theft.

3. Remove tariffs and end technical barriers on semiconductor products.

Parties should eliminate tariffs and technical barriers on semiconductors and all technology products, that rely on electronic chips. Removing tariffs and technical barriers is crucial for businesses, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, in penetrating new markets. Related, any trade deal should open markets for services providers, ensuring that all face fair and transparent treatment.

4. Simplify and harmonize the customs and trade facilitation processes.

The trade deals should include strong commitments on customs procedures and trade facilitation to ensure that border processing will be quick, transparent, and predictable. The parties should also work to use electronic customs forms to expedite customs processing.

5. Combat any attempts of forced technology transfer.

All trade deals should have clear and firm rules that prohibit countries from requiring companies to transfer their technology, intellectual property, or other proprietary information to persons in their respective territories.

6. Enable the free flow of cross-border data.

In today’s global economy, all industries, including the semiconductor industry, rely on the free flow of data. Countries should refrain from putting in place unjustifiable regulations that limit the free flow of information, which simply serve to curb innovation and impact growth. SEMI supports provisions that enable the movement of data, subject to reasonable safeguards for privacy and other protections.

7. Eliminate forced data localization measures.

Many countries have created laws that require physical infrastructure and data centers in every country they seek to serve, which adds unnecessary costs and burdens. Forward-looking policies should eliminate the use of forced data localization measures.

8. Harmonize global standards to achieve “one standard, one test, accepted everywhere.”

Businesses should not have to face different standards for each market they serve. Global standards, driven by industry, should be market-oriented, and there should be strong commitments on transparency, stakeholder participation and coordination.

9. Create transparent rules for state-owned and -supported enterprises to ensure fair and non-discriminatory treatment.

SEMI supports a trade deal that contains robust commitments to ensure that state-owned and -supported enterprises compete based on performance, quality and price, as opposed to discriminatory regulation, opaque subsidies, favoritism, or other tools that artificially benefit state-backed businesses.

10. Establish protections for companies and individuals that respect privacy while also balancing security.

Any trade deal should have firm consumer protections, including privacy, that enables ease of use, but also does not forgo security. SEMI support efforts to use encryption products in support of this venture and also believes that parties should work to advance efforts on cybersecurity through self-assessment, declaration of conformity, increased cooperation and information sharing, all of which will help prevent cyber-attacks and stop the diffusion of malware.

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), today announced that SK hynix, a global leader in producing semiconductors including DRAM and NAND Flash memory, has signed an agreement to join SRC’s research consortium. SK hynix will participate in multiple SRC research initiatives including; Global Research Collaboration (GRC) and the New Science Team (NST) project.

GRC, a worldwide research program with 17 industrial sponsors is comprised of nine design and process technology disciplines. SK hynix will participate in SRC’s Nanomanufacturing Materials and Processes and Logic & Memory Devices research programs that focus on new device structures, memory alternatives, materials, and processes.

The NST project, a consortium consisting of 12 industrial sponsors and three government agencies is a 5-year, $300 million SRC initiative launched this January. NST consists of two complementary research programs: JUMP (Joint University Microelectronics Program) and nCORE (nanoelectronics Computing Research), which will advance new technologies focused on high- performance, energy-efficient microelectronics for communications, computing and storage needs for 2025 and beyond.

“The entire SRC team joins me in welcoming SK hynix to our distinguished membership of industry leaders from around the world”, said Ken Hansen, President and CEO of SRC. “SK hynix has an impressive history that showcases how ingenuity and innovative thinking can advance technology at a progressive pace. We look forward to a long, successful relationship with SK hynix as we push the limits of imagination and innovation.”

“SK hynix’s fundamental objective to surpass technological boundaries through propelling innovation has brought us to this association with SRC”, said Jinkook Kim, Head of R&D at SK hynix. “We recognize the significant impact that collaborative research programs such as those underway at SRC have in moving our industry forward. Strategic partnerships in research and development will help drive the Fourth Industrial Revolution with AI and autonomous vehicles leading the way.”

Today’s announcement is significant as the top 5 global semiconductor companies are now members of SRC. SK hynix represents the 8th non-U.S. headquartered company to join SRC as it seeks to expand its global presence. Industry sponsors are invited to explore the possibilities at SRC.

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the third quarter 2018, surpassing record second quarter 2018 area shipments to set another all-time high, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.

Total silicon wafer area shipments reached 3,255 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 3.0 percent rise from the 3,164 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments clocked in 8.6 percent higher than third quarter 2017 shipments.

“Silicon shipment volumes remained at record levels during the third quarter,” said Neil Weaver, chairman SEMI SMG and Director, Product Development and Applications Engineering of Shin Etsu Handotai America. “Silicon shipments are mirroring this year’s strong semiconductor unit growth in support of a growing and diversified electronics market during our stable economy.”

Silicon Area Shipment Trends – Semiconductor Applications Only
Millions of Square Inches
1Q2017
2Q2017
3Q2017
4Q2017
1Q2018
2Q2018
3Q2018
Total
2,858
2,978
2,997
2,977
3,084
3,164
3,255

Source: SEMI, (www.semi.org), November 2018

Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices, or chips, are fabricated.

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers and epitaxial silicon wafers, as well as non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users.

The Silicon Manufacturing Group (SMG)  is a sub-committee of the SEMI Electronic Materials Group (EMG) and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). The purpose of the group is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.

SkyWater Technology Foundry, the industry’s most advanced U.S.- based and U.S.-owned Trusted Foundry, today announced that Tom Legere has been appointed as Senior Vice President of Operations. In this role Legere will focus on evolving and enhancing SkyWater’s operations as they drive world-class foundry efficiency and customer support in support of the company’s long-term growth objectives.

“I’m extremely excited to have Tom join us at SkyWater as we accelerate our technology foundry transformation and work to blend best-in-class operational efficiency with a highly differentiated technology portfolio.” said Thomas Sonderman, President, SkyWater Technology Foundry. “Tom brings a unique set of operations leadership experiences across the semiconductor industry and the industry segments we serve. This deep understanding of our customers will be critical as we look to scale our business in 2019 and beyond.”

Legere brings an ideal combination of leadership and operational talent to the SkyWater executive team with extensive industry experience in aerospace and defense, life sciences, security, MEMS, renewable energy and semiconductors. He has led both mature and start-up organizations with extensive implementation experience in Design for Manufacturability (DFM), lean and six sigma principles, supply chain management and customer engagement. Over the last three decades Legere has held senior operational roles at a diverse range of companies, most notably Aurora Semiconductor, Sonavation, eSolar, SVTC, Cypress Semiconductor and Atmel.

Added Legere, “SkyWater brings a truly differentiated proposition to semiconductor industry, blending innovative advanced technology development with the ability to manufacture at scale. I’m excited to join the team as we look to further scale the business with an operationally efficient, customer-first approach.”

SEMI announced today that it has signed a new agreement with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to expand the Nano-Bio Materials Consortium’s (NBMC) work in advancing human monitoring technology innovations for telemedicine and digital health. The program is designed to include $20 million in direct federal funding and $41 million overall in the next six years with additional contributions from state and industry sources. The grant guarantees $7 million of government funds for the first year’s launch of the renewed program.

Drawing on elements of nano-technology and biological research, nano-bio technology is at the core of the expanding field of human performance monitoring and augmentation (HPM/A). Human performance monitoring systems focus on using wearables and table-top devices that monitor blood pressure and glucose, the heart and brain, and other key features of human health to assess physical performance, identify anomalies and help prevent disease.

The expanded NBMC program will focus on research topics such as individual or mission customization, non-intrusive electronics, effects of extreme environments, new material integration (nano-materials, textiles, etc.), and regulatory considerations. Activities will consist of competitively bid research and development (R&D) projects, workshops, conferences, webinars, and extensive gap analysis exercises to determine market needs.

“SEMI is eager to renew NBMC programs and begin working with AFRL, commercial organizations, and universities to identify technology needs, fund research and development, and execute this public/private collaboration,” said Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, Ph.D, NBMC executive director and SEMI CTO. “The NBMC’s continued work will give SEMI members a first-hand understanding of how medical technology innovations will be shaped by advanced electronics and provide the platform for collaboration on R&D projects leading to new products and enabling personalized medicine.”

“Since its inception, NBMC has enabled new industrial and academic communities to engage and team up with AFRL and our mission to deliver new and innovative human monitoring capabilities to the airmen,” said Jeremy W. Ward, Ph.D., NBMC Government Program Manager. “We are eager to continue fostering and growing this community of innovators and to focus R&D on emerging nano-bio materials and technologies for human monitoring to enable solutions for the future monitoring and diagnostic needs of the United States Air Force’s Aeromedical En Route Care mission.”

AFRL awarded the cooperative agreement to SEMI after reviewing competitive responses to a Request for Information followed by a Request for Proposals. Twelve organizations joined SEMI to write the comprehensive proposal: Binghamton University, Brewer Science, Cambridge Display Technology, Dublin City University, GE, Lockheed Martin, Molex, NextFlex, Qualcomm Life Sciences, UCLA Medical School, UES, and the University of Arizona. SEMI and its FlexTech Group have been collaborating with AFRL and its Materials and Manufacturing Directorate to manage NBMC since its launch in 2013.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced the establishment of Avera Semiconductor LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to providing custom silicon solutions for a broad range of applications. Avera Semi will leverage deep ties with GF to deliver ASIC offerings on 14/12nm and more mature technologies while providing clients new capabilities and access to alternate foundry processes at 7nm and beyond.

Avera Semi is built upon an unrivaled legacy of ASIC expertise, tapping into a world-class team that has executed more than 2,000 complex designs in its 25-year history. With more than 850 employees, annual revenues in excess of $500 million, and over $3 billion in 14nm designs in execution, Avera Semi is well positioned to serve clients developing products across a wide range of markets, including wired and wireless networking, data centers and storage, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and aerospace and defense.

The new company is led by Kevin O’Buckley, a leader in the ASIC business since joining GF as part of the acquisition of IBM Microelectronics in 2015. Previously, he spent nearly 20 years at IBM in a variety of roles spanning both technical and executive leadership positions.

“I couldn’t imagine a better time to launch a new venture focused on delivering custom ASIC solutions,” O’Buckley said. “Data traffic and bandwidth demands have exploded, and next-generation systems for cloud and communications must deliver more performance and handle more complexity than ever before. Avera Semi has the right combination of expertise and technology to help our clients design and build high-performance, highly optimized semiconductor solutions.”

“Arm has a long history of collaborating with the team building Avera Semi to enhance PPA and bring innovative solutions to market,” said Drew Henry, senior vice president and general manager, Infrastructure Line of Business, Arm. “As the needs for compute requirements continue to evolve and diversify, we look forward to joining Avera’s capabilities and technologies with Arm Neoverse solutions and physical design IP to deliver unique value to a broad customer base.”

“Synopsys’ long history of collaboration with GF has enabled us to deliver a broad portfolio of high-quality DesignWare IP on a range of GF processes,” said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP at Synopsys. “We look forward to continuing this success with Avera Semi to provide designers with the necessary IP for their next-generation, high-performance SoC designs on advanced FinFET processes.”

Avera Semi offers clients a range of capabilities to enable end-to-end silicon solutions:

●      ASIC offerings on both leading-edge and proven process technologies, including a newly established foundry partnership on 7nm
●      A rich IP portfolio, including high-speed SerDes, high-performance embedded TCAMs, ARM® cores and performance and density-optimized embedded SRAMs
●      A comprehensive, production-proven design methodology that builds on a strong record of first-time-right results to help reduce development costs and time-to-market
●      Advanced packaging options to increase bandwidth, eliminate I/O bottlenecks, and reduce memory area, latency and power
●      Flexible ASIC business engagement models that give clients the ability to supplement in-house resources with the level of support needed from experienced chip design, methodology, test and packaging teams

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Lisa Su, President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), as Chair of GSA Board of Directors and Simon Segars, Chief Executive Officer of Arm, as the Vice Chair. These leaders will help drive the GSA vision to establish an efficient, profitable and sustainable global ecosystem as well as broaden the scope of GSA to represent an extended value chain to include systems, software, solutions and services, in addition to semiconductors. Under the direction of the new leadership, GSA will be launching several initiatives that support this expanded vision, including Interest Groups and Working Groups for rapidly emerging but fragmented markets like automotive, artificial intelligence and internet-of-things (IoT). The GSA has also created a Women’s Leadership Initiative and “Rising Women of Influence Award” dedicated to highlighting and honoring key female executive leaders within the industry. The award will be presented at the GSA Annual Awards Dinner on December 6.

“I’m very honored to be named as Chair of GSA Board of Directors and look forward to working with my fellow Board members to execute the expanded GSA vision,” said Dr. Lisa Su. “Semiconductors are crucial drivers for a variety of industries and rapidly growing markets such as AI, IoT, automotive, big data, cloud computing and 5G. This industry is going through radical growth and transformation which demands new and different thinking, including an emphasis on stronger collaboration across the entire ecosystem to increase our pace of innovation.”

GSA will execute its vision with several new initiatives including strategically planned Interest Groups, that will convene the value chain in rapidly growing market segments like IoT and Automotive to collaborate on programs and projects important to the industry. Simon Segars outlined one of these collaborative programs. “We have established a GSA IoT Security Working Group within the IoT Interest Group to address end-to-end issues in IoT Security. It is comprised of various IoT ecosystem security stakeholders including chipset vendors, platform companies, cloud vendors and service providers. The goal is to promote best practices on IoT Security, share information on threats and attacks, define security requirements and inform standards bodies. It is also an opportunity for GSA members and partners to influence the requirements for security that get passed to all participants in the value and supply chains.”

“The GSA Board of Directors is comprised of a literal “Who’s Who” of leaders within the semiconductor ecosystem,” said Jodi Shelton, Co-founder and President of GSA. “They represent some of the most influential companies in the industry providing a comprehensive global perspective. As the CEO of AMD, Lisa understands the value of collaboration. We are confident Lisa and Simon will advance the GSA commitment to being a meaningful platform fostering collaboration, innovation and integration for this industry and across the value chain.”

Dr. Lisa Su is AMD president and chief executive officer and serves on the company’s board of directors. Previously, Dr. Su held executive leadership and engineering positions with AMD, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. and IBM after receiving her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2017, Dr. Su was named one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” by Fortune Magazine and the “Top Ranked Semiconductor CEO” by Institutional Investor Magazine. Under Dr. Su’s leadership, AMD has introduced two completely new chip architectures and more than ten different product families, resulting in double-digit annual revenue growth in 2017.

Simon Segars is chief executive officer of Arm. Since joining Arm as one of its first employees, Simon has driven technical and business innovations to help transform the company into the leading architect of the most pervasive compute technology the world has ever seen. He was named CEO in July 2013 after successfully expanding the company’s U.S. business and strengthening its leadership and relationships in Silicon Valley, where he still lives with his family. Simon earned his BEng in electronic engineering from the University of Sussex and an MSc in computer science from the University of Manchester.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $122.7 billion during the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 4.1 percent over the previous quarter and 13.8 percent more than the third quarter of 2017. Global sales for the month of September 2018 reached $40.9 billion, an uptick of 2.0 percent over last month’s total and 13.8 percent more than sales from June 2017. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“Three-quarters of the way through 2018, the global semiconductor industry is on pace to post its highest-ever annual sales, comfortably topping last year’s record total of $412 billion,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “While year-to-year growth has tapered in recent months, September marked the global industry’s highest-ever monthly sales, and Q3 was its top-grossing quarter on record. Year-to-year sales in September were up across every major product category and regional market, with sales into China and the Americas continuing to lead the way.”

Regionally, sales increased compared to September 2017 in China (26.3 percent), the Americas (15.1 percent), Europe (8.8 percent), Japan (7.2 percent), and Asia Pacific/All Other (2.4 percent). Sales were up compared to last month in the Americas (6.0 percent), China (1.8 percent), and Europe (1.2 percent), but down slightly in Asia Pacific/All Other (-0.1 percent) and Japan (-0.6 percent).

For comprehensive monthly semiconductor sales data and detailed WSTS Forecasts, consider purchasing the WSTS Subscription Package. For detailed data on the global and U.S. semiconductor industry and market, consider purchasing the 2018 SIA Databook.

September 2018
Billions
Month-to-Month Sales
Market Last Month Current Month % Change
Americas 8.68 9.20 6.0%
Europe 3.53 3.57 1.2%
Japan 3.39 3.37 -0.6%
China 14.10 14.35 1.8%
Asia Pacific/All Other 10.43 10.42 -0.1%
Total 40.12 40.91 2.0%
Year-to-Year Sales
Market Last Year Current Month % Change
Americas 7.99 9.20 15.1%
Europe 3.28 3.57 8.8%
Japan 3.14 3.37 7.2%
China 11.36 14.35 26.3%
Asia Pacific/All Other 10.18 10.42 2.4%
Total 35.95 40.91 13.8%
Three-Month-Moving Average Sales
Market Apr/May/Jun Jul/Aug/Sept % Change
Americas 8.34 9.20 10.2%
Europe 3.67 3.57 -2.7%
Japan 3.39 3.37 -0.8%
China 13.59 14.35 5.6%
Asia Pacific/All Other 10.32 10.42 1.0%
Total 39.31 40.91 4.1%

By Emir Demircan

SEMI Europe today confirmed its support for the joint call to future Members of the European Parliament to put industry at the core of the European Union’s future. The joint call is as follows:

Industry Matters for Europe and Its Citizens

European industry is everywhere in our daily life: from the houses we build, the furniture we buy, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the healthcare we receive, the energy and means of transport we use to the objects and products ever-present in our lives. With its skilled workforce and its global reputation for quality and sustainability, industry is vital for Europe and its prosperity. Today, 52 million people and their families throughout Europe benefit directly and indirectly from employment in industrial sectors. Our supply chains, made up of hundreds of thousands of innovative SMEs and larger suppliers, are thriving and exporting European industrial excellence all over the world.

Industry Needs You!

Following the 2008 financial crisis, millions of manufacturing jobs were lost in Europe, each time bringing dramatic human and social consequences. Even now, we are still far from the employment levels seen before the crisis and jobs are vulnerable to worrying international trends, including increasing protectionism. The European Union now needs an ambitious industrial strategy to help compete with other global regions – such as China, India and the USA – that have already put industry at the very top of their political agenda.

Therefore we, industrial sectors from all branches, call on you – future Members of the European Parliament – to commit today to:

  • Put industry at the top of the political agenda of the European Parliament during the next institutional cycle (2019-2024)
  • Urge the next European Commission to shortlist industry as a top priority of its 5-year Work Programme and appoint a dedicated Vice-President for Industry
  • Uphold the next European Commission to swiftly present an ambitious long-term EU industrial strategy which shall include clear indicators and governance

We, the Signatories of this Manifesto, count on your support to make sure that Europe remains a hub for a leading, smart, innovative and sustainable industry, that benefits all Europeans and future generations. Europe can be proud of its industry. Together we must put it at the core of the EU’s future!

The joint call and the list of supporting associations can be reached here.

Emir Demircan is senior manager, Advocacy and Public Policy, at SEMI Europe. He can be reached at [email protected].