Category Archives: Wafer Processing

Intel continued to top all other chip companies in R&D expenditures in 2016 with spending that reached $12.7 billion and represented 22.4% of its semiconductor sales last year.  Intel accounted for 36% of the top-10 R&D spending and about 23% of the $56.5 billion total worldwide semiconductor R&D expenditures in 2016, according to the 20th anniversary 2017 edition of The McClean Report that was released in January 2017.  Figure 1 shows IC Insights’ ranking of the top semiconductor R&D spenders based on semiconductor manufacturers and fabless suppliers with $1 billion or more spent on R&D in 2016.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Intel’s R&D spending is lofty and exceeded the combined R&D spending of the next three companies on the list. However, the company’s R&D expenditures increased 5% in 2016, below its 9% average increase in spending per year since 2011 and less than its 8% annual growth rate since 2001, according to the new report.

Underscoring the growing cost of developing new IC technologies, Intel’s R&D-to-sales ratio has climbed significantly over the past 20 years.  In 2010, Intel’s R&D spending as a percent of sales was 16.4%, compared to 22.4% in 2016. Intel’s R&D-to-sales ratios were 14.5% in 2005, 16.0% in 2000, and just 9.3% in 1995.

Among other top-10 R&D spenders, Qualcomm—the industry’s largest fabless IC supplier—remained the second-largest R&D spender, a position it first achieved in 2012.  Qualcomm’s semiconductor-related R&D spending was down 7% in 2016 compared to an adjusted total in 2015 that included expenditures by U.K.-based CSR and Ikanos Communications in Silicon Valley, which were acquired in 2015.  Broadcom Limited—which is the new name of Avago Technologies after it completed its $37 billion acquisition of U.S-based Broadcom Corporation in early 2016—was third in the R&D ranking. Excluding Broadcom’s expenditures in 2015, Avago by itself was ranked 13th in R&D spending that year (at nearly $1.1 billion).

Memory IC leader Samsung was ranked fourth in R&D spending in 2016 with expenditures increasing 11% from 2015. Among the $1 billion-plus “R&D club,” the South Korean company had the lowest investment-intensity level with 6.5% of its total semiconductor revenues going to chip-related research and development in 2016, which was up from just 6.2% in 2015.

Toshiba in Japan moved up two positions to fifth as it aimed its R&D spending at 3D NAND flash memories.  Foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) was sixth with a 7% increase in 2016 R&D spending, followed by fabless IC supplier MediaTek in Taiwan, which moved up one position to seventh with 13% growth in R&D expenditures. U.S.-based memory supplier Micron Technology advanced from ninth to eighth in the ranking with its research and development spending rising 5% in 2016.

Rounding out the top 10, NXP in Europe was ninth in 2016, slipping from sixth in 2015 and SK Hynix grew its R&D spending 9% to complete the list.   Fabless Nvidia just missed the cut with a 10% increase in expenditures for research and development.

Semiconductor consolidation played a factor in industry R&D spending rising just 1% in 2016 to a record-high $56.5 billion after a 1% increase in 2015 to $56.2 billion.  The slowdown in industry-wide R&D spending growth also corresponded with weakness in worldwide semiconductor sales, which declined 1% in 2015 and then recovered with a low single-digit increase in 2016.

Worldwide semiconductor wafer foundry leader GLOBALFOUNDRIES published its global manufacturing business expansion plan today. The company will continue investing in its wafer plants in the United States and Germany, expand its capacity in Singapore, and construct a facility to produce 12–inch wafers in Chengdu, China in order to satisfy Chinese and global demands for the company’s 22FDX technology.

According to the cooperation plan of the two parties, the Chengdu plant will start production in Q4 of 2018, with fabrication of the advanced 22FDX to begin in Q4 of 2019.

CEO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Sanjay Jha, indicated that, “From the world-class RF-SOI platform used for wireless Internet devices, to the technical roadmaps of the state-of-the-art FD-SOI and FinFET, they all serve as evidence of the market’s tremendous demands for our main staple and progressive technologies. The construction of the 12–inch wafer plant in the High and New Technology Development Area of Chengdu will be conducive to accelerating our expansion in the Chinese market.”

The High and New Technology Development Area of Chengdu is home to one of China’s most prominent IT industry clusters, hosting a plethora of global IT giants including Intel, Texas Instrument, AMD, MediaTek, Dell, Lenovo and Foxconn, as well as 115 of the Fortune Global 500 companies. In 2016, the High and New Technology Development Area posted total trade amounting to USD 24.9 billion.

On the same day, GLOBALFOUNDRIES also unveiled its brand new trade name for the Chinese market: “Ge Xin“, and announced the establishment of a new joint venture — Gexin (Chengdu) Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. In Chinese, the name “Ge Xin” shares the same pronunciation as the Chinese word for “innovation” and signifies rebirth, reinvigoration and reform.

Applied Materials, Inc. announced today that Dr. Om Nalamasu, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honors for engineers. Dr. Nalamasu received the distinction for technical innovation spanning materials development, atomically controlled thin-film fabrication, and commercialization in microelectronics and energy generation and storage.

“Om has a passion for inspiring innovation and developing engineering talent,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “This well-deserved recognition honors the many contributions Om has made throughout his career to pursue technical breakthroughs and advance the technology that is now part of our everyday lives.”

Dr. Nalamasu is a world-renowned expert in materials science and has made seminal contributions to the fields of optical lithography and polymeric materials science and technology. As a champion for a global innovation culture, he has built a world-class team to support Applied’s leadership in materials engineering, and solidified strategic relationships with universities, government organizations and research institutes around the world. He also serves as president of Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital fund of Applied Materials, where he oversees investments in early- and growth-stage companies. Prior to joining Applied in 2006, Om was a NYSTAR Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he also served as Vice President of Research. Before that he served in several leadership roles at Bell Laboratories.

“It is a tremendous honor to join such a distinguished community of engineers and technologists,” said Dr. Nalamasu. “There has never been a more exciting time to be an engineer and develop innovative solutions that help solve the world’s toughest challenges.”

Dr. Nalamasu has received numerous awards, authored more than 180 papers, review articles and books, and holds more than 200 worldwide issued or pending patent applications. He is a member of the board of directors of The Tech Museum in Silicon Valley and serves on several national and international advisory boards. Born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, he earned a B.Sc. from Osmania University, a M.Sc. from the University of Hyderabad and received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Founded in 1964, the NAE strives to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and by marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES yesterday announced plans to expand its global manufacturing footprint in response to growing customer demand for its comprehensive and differentiated technology portfolio. The company is investing in its existing leading-edge fabs in the United States and Germany, expanding its footprint in China with a fab in Chengdu, and adding capacity for mainstream technologies in Singapore.

“We continue to invest in capacity and technology to meet the needs of our worldwide customer base,” said GF CEO Sanjay Jha. “We are seeing strong demand for both our mainstream and advanced technologies, from our world-class RF-SOI platform for connected devices to our FD-SOI and FinFET roadmap at the leading edge. These new investments will allow us to expand our existing fabs while growing our presence in China through a partnership in Chengdu.”

In the United States, GF plans to expand 14nm FinFET capacity by an additional 20 percent at its Fab 8 facility in New York, with the new production capabilities to come online in the beginning of 2018. This expansion builds on the approximately $13 billion invested in the United States over the last eight years, with an associated 9,000 direct jobs across four locations and 15,000 jobs within the regional ecosystem. New York will continue to be the center of leading-edge technology development for 7nm and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, with 7nm production planned for Q2 2018.

In Germany, GF plans to build up 22FDX 22nm FD-SOI capacity at is Fab 1 facility in Dresden to meet demand for the Internet of Things (IoT), smartphone processors, automotive electronics, and other battery-powered wirelessly connected applications, growing the overall fab capacity by 40 percent by 2020. Dresden will continue to be the center for FDX technology development. GF engineers in Dresden are already developing the company’s next-generation 12FDX technology, with customer product tape-outs expected to begin in the middle of 2018.

In China, GF and the Chengdu municipality have formed a partnership to build a fab in Chengdu. The partners plan to establish a 300mm fab to support the growth of the Chinese semiconductor market and to meet accelerating global customer demand for 22FDX. The fab will begin production of mainstream process technologies in 2018 and then focus on manufacturing GF’s commercially available 22FDX process technology, with volume production expected to start in 2019.

In Singapore, GF will increase 40nm capacity at its 300mm fab by 35 percent, while also enabling more 180nm production on its 200mm manufacturing lines. The company will also add new capabilities to produce its industry-leading RF-SOI technology.

“GF has had a strong foundry relationship with Qualcomm Technologies for many years across a wide range of process nodes,” said Roawen Chen, senior vice president, QCT global operations, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are excited to see GF making these new investments in differentiated technology and expanding global capacity to support Qualcomm Technologies in delivering the next wave of innovation across a range of integrated circuits that support our business.”

“Collaborative foundry partnerships are critical for us to differentiate ourselves in the competitive market for mobile SoCs,” said Min Li, chief executive officer of Rockchip. “We are pleased to see GF bringing its innovative 22FDX technology to China and investing in the capacity necessary to support the country’s growing fabless semiconductor industry.”

“As our customers increasingly demand more from their mobile experiences, the need for a strong manufacturing partner is greater than ever,” said Joe Chen, co-chief operating officer of MediaTek. “We are thrilled to have a partner like GF that invests in the global capacity we need to deliver powerful and efficient mobile technologies for markets ranging from networking and connectivity to the Internet of Things.”

Grant A. Pierce, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sonics, Inc., supplier of on-chip network (NoC) and power management technologies and services, was elected by the Board of Directors of the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance) to serve as its chairman.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be named chairman of the ESD Alliance by my peers on the board,” remarks Pierce. “This is a great opportunity to help guide the organization through the transformation it began in 2016 to broaden its focus to system issues encompassing hardware, software, and design. My experience at Sonics straddling both the system-on-chip IP hardware and design software businesses should serve as a strong unifying asset in this leadership role on the board.”

In a related move, Bob Smith, executive director of the ESD Alliance, joined the board of directors as part of a recent amendment that updated the ESD Alliance bylaws to reflect the broader mission of the organization.

Other board members are:

  • Aart de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys, Inc.
  • Dean Drako, president and CEO at IC Manage
  • Amit Gupta, president and CEO from Solido Design Automation
  • John Kibarian, president, CEO and co-founder of PDF Solutions, Inc.
  • Lucio Lanza, managing director at Lanza techVentures
  • Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO from Mentor Graphics Corporation
  • Simon Segars, ARM’s CEO
  • Lip-Bu Tan, president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems

“I’m pleased with the board’s selection of Grant Pierce to chair our organization,” says Smith. “He is an active board member, whose varied industry experience and well-honed skillset will help us forge ahead. He and I had the opportunity to work together on several projects and I welcome the chance to work more closely with him.”

Grant A. Pierce, a co-founder of Sonics, Inc., was elected to the ESD Alliance (formerly the EDA Consortium) Board of Directors in 2014 and will serve as chairman until the next board elections in 2018. He has served as Sonics’ CEO and president and as chairman of the board of directors since 1997. Over the earlier part of his more than 30-year career in high technology, Pierce served in senior management roles in a wide range of companies that built digital media and communications devices, object-oriented software development environments, fabless semiconductors, mini-computer systems, and peripherals. Pierce is a former certified public accountant and began his career with Arthur Andersen and Co.

Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) today announced that it has started construction of a new semiconductor fabrication facility, Fab 6, and a new R&D center, the Memory R&D Center, at Yokkaichi Operations in Mie prefecture, Japan, the company’s main memory production base.

Fab 6 will be dedicated to production of BiCS FLASH, Toshiba’s 3D Flash memory. Like Fab 5, construction will take place in two phases, allowing the pace of investment to be optimized against market trends, with completion of Phase 1 scheduled for summer 2018. Toshiba will determine installed capacity and output targets and schedules by closely monitoring the market.

Toshiba will also construct a Memory R&D Center adjacent to the new fab, with completion targeting December 2017. The facility will advance development of BiCS FLASH and new memories.

Toshiba is determined to enhance its competitiveness in the memory business by timely expansion of BiCS FLASH production in line with market trends, and to retain leadership in innovation in the memory business.

Intel Corporation yesterday announced plans to invest more than $7 billion to complete Fab 42, a project Intel had previously started and then left vacant. The high-volume factory is in Chandler, Ariz., and is targeted to use the 7 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. The announcement was made by U.S. President Donald Trump and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich at the White House.

Intel Corporation on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2017, announced plans to invest more than $7 billion to complete Fab 42. On completion, Fab 42 in Chandler, Ariz., is expected to be the most advanced semiconductor factory in the world. (Credit: Intel Corporation)

Intel Corporation on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2017, announced plans to invest more than $7 billion to complete Fab 42. On completion, Fab 42 in Chandler, Ariz., is expected to be the most advanced semiconductor factory in the world. (Credit: Intel Corporation)

According to Intel’s official press release, the completion of Fab 42 in 3 to 4 years will directly create approximately 3,000 high-tech, high-wage Intel jobs for process engineers, equipment technicians, and facilities-support engineers and technicians who will work at the site. Combined with the indirect impact on businesses that will help support the factory’s operations, Fab 42 is expected to create more than 10,000 total long-term jobs in Arizona.

Mr. Trump said of the announcement: “The people of Arizona will be very happy. It’s a lot of jobs.”

There will be no incentives from the federal government for the Intel project, the White House said.

Context for the investment was outlined in an e-mail from Intel’s CEO to employees.

“Intel’s business continues to grow and investment in manufacturing capacity and R&D ensures that the pace of Moore’s law continues to march on, fueling technology innovations the world loves and depends on,” said Krzanich. “This factory will help the U.S. maintain its position as the global leader in the semiconductor industry.”

“Intel is a global manufacturing and technology company, yet we think of ourselves as a leading American innovation enterprise,” Krzanich added. “America has a unique combination of talent, a vibrant business environment and access to global markets, which has enabled U.S. companies like Intel to foster economic growth and innovation. Our factories support jobs — high-wage, high-tech manufacturing jobs that are the economic engines of the states where they are located.”

Intel is America’s largest high-technology capital expenditure investor ($5.1 billion in the U.S. 2015) and its third largest investor in global R&D ($12.1 billion in 20151). The majority of Intel’s manufacturing and R&D is in the United States. As a result, Intel employs more than 50,000 people in the United States, while directly supporting almost half a million other U.S. jobs across a range of industries, including semiconductor tooling, software, logistics, channels, OEMs and other manufacturers that incorporate our products into theirs.

The 7nm semiconductor manufacturing process targeted for Fab 42 will be the most advanced semiconductor process technology used in the world and represents the future of Moore’s Law. In 1968, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that computing power will become significantly more capable and yet cost less year after year.

The chips made on the 7nm process will power the most sophisticated computers, data centers, sensors and other high-tech devices, and enable things like artificial intelligence, more advanced cars and transportation services, breakthroughs in medical research and treatment, and more. These are areas that depend upon having the highest amount of computing power, access to the fastest networks, the most data storage, the smallest chip sizes, and other benefits that come from advancing Moore’s Law.

After the announcement, President Trump tweeted his thanks to Krzanich, calling the factory a great investment in jobs and innovation. In his email to employees, Krzanich said that he had chosen to announce the expansion at the White House to “level the global playing field and make U.S. manufacturing competitive worldwide through new regulatory standards and investment policies.”

“When we disagree, we don’t walk away,” he wrote. “We believe that we must be part of the conversation to voice our views on key issues such as immigration, H1B visas and other policies that are essential to innovation.”

During Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, Krzanich had reportedly planned a Trump fundraiser event and then cancelled following numerous controversial statements from Trump regarding his proposed immigration policies. Intel has continued to be critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, joining over 100 other companies to file a legal brief challenging President Trump’s January 27 executive order which blocked entry of all refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Recently, Krzanich took to Twitter to criticize the order, voicing the company’s support of lawful immigration.

In 2012, Paul Otellini, then Intel’s CEO, made a similar promise about Fab 42 in the company of Obama, during a visit to Hillsboro, Oregon.

IC Insights’ 20th anniversary, 2017 edition of The McClean Report shows that since 2010, worldwide economic growth has been the primary influencer of IC industry growth.  In this “global economy-driven” IC industry, factors such as interest rates, oil prices, and fiscal stimulus are the primary drivers of IC market growth.  This is much different than prior to 2010, when capital spending, IC industry capacity, and IC pricing characteristics drove IC industry cycles.

Figure 1 plots the actual annual growth rates for worldwide GDP and the IC market from 1992 and includes IC Insights’ 2017 forecast.  As shown, both of these categories displayed extremely volatile behavior from 1992 through 2010 before registering much more subdued growth rates from 2011 through 2016.  Moreover, IC Insights forecasts similar restrained annual growth rates for worldwide GDP and the IC market through 2021.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Some observations regarding worldwide economic growth (GDP) include the following.

•    Since 1980, the annual worldwide GDP growth has averaged 2.8%. The average annual worldwide GDP growth rate has declined every decade since the 1960s with a slight rebound forecast to be registered in the first seven years of the current decade.

•    Worldwide GDP growth of 2.5% or less is currently considered by most economists to be indicative of a global recession, which puts 2016’s growth right at the threshold.  The 2017 global growth rate is forecast to come in only slightly better at 2.6%.  Prior to the late 1990s, when emerging markets like China and India represented a much smaller share of the worldwide economy, a global recession was typically defined as 2.0% or less growth.  The global recession threshold has never been a “hard and fast” rule, but the guidelines discussed here are useful for this analysis.

Figure 2 compares the actual annual growth rates of worldwide GDP and the worldwide IC market from 2011 through IC Insights’ 2017 forecast.  It is worth mentioning that the same scale used in Figure 1 for both worldwide GDP growth (-2% to 5%) and IC market growth (-40% to 50%) was used for this chart.  It is clear when looking at this specific timeperiod and using the historical growth rate scale end points, that IC market and worldwide GDP growth volatility from 2011 through 2017 is expected to be much more tame than in the past.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Worldwide GDP growth rates are expected to range from 2.5% to 3.0% from 2016 through 2021.  IC Insights’ expects the IC market to mirror the narrow range of worldwide GDP growth with forecasted growth rates ranging from a low of 2% to a high of 7% through 2021.

Given the tight correlation between annual worldwide GDP growth rates and IC market growth rates, IC Insights believes that a significant and noticeable IC market cycle will not occur through 2021 unless there is a significant departure from trend, up or down, for worldwide GDP growth (e.g., <2% growth on the low side and >3.0% growth on the high side).

SEMICON Korea 2017, opening today at COEX in Seoul, celebrates its 30th anniversary with its largest-ever exhibition. The gathering of the Korean semiconductor and electronics supply chain, SEMICON Korea runs February 8 to 10 and features 600 exhibiting companies and expects more than 40,000 attendees.

SEMI, the global industry association representing more than 2,000 companies in the electronics manufacturing supply chain, and host of global SEMICONs, held a press conference this morning.  SEMI’s Dan Tracy reported the global semiconductor industry has an upbeat outlook for 2017 with key electronics drivers including storage, industrial, wireless and automotive. For overall semiconductor equipment, demand is expected to increase 9 percent, according to the SEMI 2016 Year-End Equipment Forecast.

Korea is expected to make the largest regional investment, globally, in semiconductor fab equipment at a projected US$9.7 billion in 2017, a 36 percent increase over 2016. For fab materials markets, Tracy expects 3.1 percent growth globally in 2017, and 4.3 percent in Korea ($4.8 billion).

Highlights of SEMICON Korea:

  • At the Opening Ceremony on February 8, in honor of SEMICON Korea’s 30-year anniversary, Yong-Han LEE, Chairman of SEMI’s Board of Directors (BoD), will address the attendees, followed by SEMI BoD members and Korean industry leaders cutting the ceremonial ribbon and opening the doors.
  • Four industry thought leaders ─ from SK Hynix, Hewlett-Packard, imec and Microsoft ─ will present keynote insights on the future of the global semiconductor industry, immediately following the opening ceremony.
  • The Supplier Search Program has been expanded this year with 70 meetings arranged; seven of the world’s leading companies (Samsung, SK Hynix, Intel, Micron, SONY, Toshiba and Lam Research) will look for new suppliers.
  • The Presidents Reception – an exclusive VIP networking event with more than 450 global industry leaders ─ is the premier executive connection opportunity, continuing to mark the growth of the Korea semiconductor industry over the last 50 years.
  • A sold-out exhibition brings the top companies to SEMICON Korea to connect with customers and decision makers and to demonstrate product and technology leadership. The exposition includes deep technical networking and business programs that give insight into the full Korean electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

SEMICON Korea 2017 is the leading semiconductor technology event for market trends and breaking technology developments, featuring technical forums, business programs and standards activities. The event is an opportunity to meet and learn from more 100 global experts.

For more information on SEMICON Korea, visit www.semiconkorea.org/en/.

Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), a developer in specialty chemicals and advanced materials handling solutions for the microelectronics industry, announced today it has introduced a new platform for advanced gas purification that improves wafer yields for semiconductor and LED applications. The new family of GateKeeper Gas Purification Systems (GPS) applies new purification media to provide best-in-class gas purity at a wide range of flow rates with a reduced equipment footprint. With expanded capacity in South Korea, Entegris now manufactures GateKeeper GPS systems in both North America and Asia.

“Our customers face unprecedented contamination control challenges to efficiently manufacture today’s increasingly complex leading-edge-devices. The new Gatekeeper GPS family of systems provide the advanced solutions required to maximize yield in these environments,” said Entegris Senior Vice President of Microcontamination Control, Clint Haris. “In conjunction with these new technology introductions, we continue our investments in our North America and Asia facilities to expand our global service and manufacturing capabilities.”

Semiconductor processes for advanced nodes, as well as LED manufacturing requirements, call for increased purity to remove defect-causing contaminants found in process gases. The GateKeeper GPS family of systems removes a variety of contaminants from gas streams down to the parts-per-trillion level and can be configured to a wide range of flow rates. Gases purified include CDA, N2, H2, H2 for EUV, Ar and NH3. Additionally, manufacturers are looking for tools that require significantly less sub-fab floor space. The reduced footprint allows customers to devote valuable sub-fab floor space to other tool needs or increase purification capacity with additional systems.

“We collaborated closely with our customers to identify purity requirements to meet their need to remove new contaminants and increased sensitivity to known contaminants,” said Director of Gas Purification Product Management, Jordan Ruple. “As a result, we are proud to be the first to offer this level of purity – in a variety of gases and flow rates – for systems of this size.”

The latest GateKeeper system will be on display during the SEMICON Korea trade show in Seoul, February 8-10, 2017.