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Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ:  MENT) today announced the winners of its second annual Don Miller Award for Excellence in System-Level Thermo-Fluid Design. The award is named after Don Miller, former research director for British Hydromechanics Research (now BHR Group) in the U.K., who served as one of the judges. Miller is also the author of Internal Flow Systems, the book which served as the foundation for Mentor Graphics FloMASTER software technology. Award submissions were received from around the world, including entrants from India, China, and Brazil.

The 2016 Don Miller Award winners were selected based on their demonstration of excellence for a range of thermo-fluid design applications, including automotive engine cooling, two-phased refrigeration processes, and rail transport passenger comfort. A team comprising Soujanya Chintalapudi, Sundaram Veeraraghavan, and Sampath Sathish Kumar from Chrysler India Automotive, Pvt. Ltd. received the first place award for their design featured in their SAE paper, Simulation of Split Engine Cooling System. Their design used a FloMASTER simulation model for a new method of developing a split engine cooling system.

Two runners up were selected by the panel of judges. Thiago Rubens Vieria Ebel from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Department of Mechanical Engineering in Brazil received his award fora unique application of the FloMASTER tool used to understand the water hammer effects that can occur in a novel refrigeration system. The application was described in his thesis, Viability Analysis and Computational Simulation of a Hydraulic Circuit for a Magnetic Refrigeration System.

The second joint runner-up award went to the team of Yifei Zhu, Yugong Xu, and Xiangdong Chen from the School of Mechanical Electronic and Control Engineering, Beijing Jiao Tong University in Beijing, China. They investigated the interaction between the external environment and the internal air flow through the ventilation of a high-speed train during operation. They described it in their paper, Study On the One-Dimensional Carriage and Ventilation System of High-Speed Train,

“We congratulate this year’s winners of our annual Don Miller Award for excellence in thermo-fluid design applications, and we are impressed by the broad range of submissions from our FloMASTER customers worldwide,” stated Roland Feldhinkel, general manager of Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division. “We are proud of the innovations made possible by the use of our technology, and we look forward to reviewing next year’s FloMASTER award submissions.”

GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. announced that the acquisition of SunEdison Semiconductor Limited by GlobalWafers has been successfully completed. This follows GlobalWafers’ announcement on August 18, 2016 to acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of SunEdison Semiconductor in a transaction valued at USD 683 million, a figure that includes SunEdison Semiconductor’s outstanding net debt.

The combined entity will bring together GlobalWafers’ operating model and market strengths with SunEdison Semiconductor’s expansive global footprint and product development capabilities. GlobalWafers will see a meaningful expansion of its production capabilities and breadth in product and global customer base, including greater access to the Korea and EU as well as SOI product technologies and capacity. It will also have a significant increase in financial scale. The transaction will ultimately provide the foundation for GlobalWafers to be a good wafer solution provider and long term partner for all semiconductor customers.

“Our enterprise footprint of 17 operation sites located in 10 countries is strategically positioned in all regions to support our customers more effectively,” said Doris Hsu, Chairperson and CEO of GlobalWafers. “The new GlobalWafers will be customer-centric with our success being gauged by the satisfaction level of our customers. Our goal is to aggressively be our customers’ supplier of choice as it relates to quality, technology, supply, support and price.”

Within a highly competitive landscape due to a strong price pressure, most of the LED companies are looking for business opportunities and adopt different strategies of development. Vertical integration, product, application and activity diversification. New relays of growth are required for LED players to survive.

From a packaging point of view, more and more packaged LED manufacturers selected the vertical integration strategy to move towards the module level and add more and more value in their LED components.

Under the new report titled LED Packaging 2016: Market, Technology and Industry Landscape report, Yole Développement (Yole) reviews the LED industry and market status. The “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company Yole, details process flows and related technologies in LED packaging. Yole proposes also a comprehensive analysis of the cost reduction and its impact at the LED packaging level.

According to Yole’s analysts, the packaged LED market represented a revenue of nearly US$15.7 billion in 2015. This industry should grow to a size of nearly US$18.2 billion by 2020.

led packaging revenue

Following the overcapacity caused by the recent LED TV crisis and the entry of Chinese players, industry consolidation was expected to decrease competition and stabilize price erosion. This eventually happened in China during 2014 and 2015, but with unforeseen effects on the overall industry. Indeed, several smaller players went bankrupt and many midsize players have since been acquired, leading to a situation where dozens of companies are having “going-out-of business” sales. This has triggered strong price decline and, naturally, other LED players had no choice but to match the price trend initiated by the Chinese industry.

ASP for low and mid power LEDs declined 30% – 40% in the second half of 2015. In parallel ASP for high power LEDs, though less affected, still declined 20% – 30%. Globally, 2015 was a rough year for the LED industry, with packaged LED revenue declining for the first time ever: from US$15.1 billion in 2014 to US$15 billion in 2015.

This decrease was emphasized by lower-than anticipated demand in the LED backlight and LED lighting markets. Moreover, strong evolution in currency exchange rates due to the US dollar’s rise contributed to many players’ declining revenue.

2016 has seen the industry begin recovering, and packaged LED ASPs have mostly stabilized for highly-commoditized stock keeping units like the low-power 2835 and mid-power 5630.

Higher power grades for lighting applications are seeing increasing demand, but also stiffer competition, which likely will lead to a significant ASP drop as competition intensifies.

“Thus we expect the packaged LED market to show moderate growth in the coming years, reaching US$18.5 billion in 2021 (CAGR 2016 – 2021: +3.4%)”, explains Pars Mukish, Business Unit Manager at Yole. 

LED packaging market is still a strong opportunity for materials suppliers. Indeed, LED packaging requires specific materials in agreement with application requirements.

Regarding packaging substrates, the high power density of devices induces the use of ceramic substrates, a market that will grow from nearly US$684 million in 2015 to US$813 million in 2021, according to Yole’s LED packaging report.

Encapsulant/optic materials will follow the same trend: Yole’s analysts announce US$400 million in 2015 and US$526 million in 2021. This market segment is driven mostly by the increased use of silicone material offering better reliability/lifetime than traditional epoxy material.

In parallel, with major YAG IP expiring from 2017, the phosphor market will face strong commoditization and price pressure. Consequently, market will only grow from nearly US$339 million in 2015 to US$346 million in 2021.

The LED packaging report (2016 edition) provides a comprehensive overview of all LED packaging aspects. Each step of the packaging process flow including equipment and materials used is described, along with associated trends. Associated technological breakthroughs are also analysed.

SEMI, the global industry association representing more than 2,000 companies in the electronics manufacturing supply chain, today announced the hire of David Anderson as president of the SEMI Americas region.  Reporting to SEMI‘s president and CEO, the president of SEMI Americas has P&L responsibility as well as ownership of all Americas region programs and events, including SEMICON West.

David Anderson will be responsible for SEMI Americas activities in establishing industry Standards, advocacy, community development, expositions, and programs.  With broad experience in the semiconductor device industry, and leadership positions in associations, consortia, and on boards of directors, Anderson brings the diverse skills necessary to lead SEMI’s Americas region.

Anderson has past experience at Fairchild Semiconductor, National Semiconductor, the Semiconductor Industry Suppliers Association, and SEMATECH.  At SEMATECH, in addition to other industry-advancing achievements, he helped launch the global ISMI (International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative) effort to improve the productivity and cost performance of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and operations.

Most recently, Anderson was CEO and chairman of Novati Technologies, a specialty manufacturing fab and provider of semiconductor and related process technology development and commercialization services.  Novati’s solutions included semiconductor, MEMS, sensors, microfluidics, silicon-photonics, and novel materials. Prior to that, he held executive leadership positions for development foundries ATDF and SVTC Technologies.

“Dave’s vast experience in semiconductor equipment, as well as in a wide range of silicon devices, provides a practical understanding of the full electronics manufacturing supply chain,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “He has built global organizations and communities both at SEMI member companies and in SEMI partner consortia.  This will enable Dave to hit the ground running at SEMI.  Dave already has solid relationships with many of SEMI’s members in both the Americas and worldwide.  As I head toward my announced retirement, I’m confident that Dave will strengthen SEMI’s Global Executive Team and will lead the Americas organization to success in our SEMI 2020 initiative.”

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.49 billion in orders worldwide in October 2016 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.91, according to the September Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.  A book-to-bill of 0.91 means that $91 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

SEMI reports that the three-month average of worldwide bookings in October 2016 was $1.49 billion. The bookings figure is 5.1 percent lower than the final September 2016 level of $1.57 billion, and is 12.2 percent higher than the October 2015 order level of $1.33 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in October 2016 was $1.63 billion. The billings figure is 9.0 percent higher than the final September 2016 level of $1.49 billion, and is 19.8 percent higher than the October 2015 billings level of $1.36 billion.

“Total equipment billings increased 9 percent in October over September, while bookings contracted 5 percent,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “As the result, the book-to bill ratio for October dropped below parity for the first time in 11 months, even though bookings and billings activity remains at elevated levels relative to last year.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
May 2016

$1,601.5

$1,750.5

1.09
June 2016

$1,715.2

$1,714.3

1.00
July 2016

$1,707.9

$1,795.4

1.05
August 2016

$1,709.0

$1,753.4

1.03
September 2016 (final)

$1,493.3

$1,567.2

1.05
October 2016 (prelim)

$1,627.5

$1,487.2

0.91

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), November 2016

The SATS market is anticipated to have substantial growth mainly driven by the increasing costs for advanced packaging solutions, according to a report by Persistence Market Research. However, with increasing competition, the price is expected to decrease in the foreseeable future. Major drivers propelling the market include: increasing demand for mobility and connectivity in consumer electronic products and increasing demand of advanced electronic systems in the automobiles Additionally, increasing demand for mobility and connectivity in the consumer electronic products and ability of SATS providers to facilitate a more efficient supply chain and reduced time-to-market are few other factors propelling the market growth. SATS providers offer additional features over in-house testing and packaging capabilities which is one of the primary factors for Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) to outsource the SATS services. In addition, the global market of semiconductor assembly and test services has been witnessing the emergence of strategic alliances and collaborations among the leading providers and manufacturers due to rising financial pressures.

Currently, more than 50% of the market accounted for Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) services, and this fraction is expected to increase during the forecast period. Although many of the low-end SATS providers are competing on price-driven products, the leading players including ASE group, STATS ChipPAC Ltd., Amkor technology Inc. and Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd (SPIL) are focusing on obtaining the competitive edge by targeting the advanced expensive packages.

To understand and assess the opportunities in this market, the report is categorically split into three sections, namely, market analysis by services, application, and region. The services section is further sub-segmented on the basis of interconnecting technologies. The report analyzes the global semiconductor assembly and testing services market in terms of market value (US$ Mn).

The report starts with an overview of the global semiconductor assembly and testing services market and usage of these services in various applications across the globe. In the same section, PMR covers the global semiconductor assembly and testing services market performance in terms of revenue. This section includes PMR’s analysis of key trends, drivers, and restraints from supply and demand perspectives. Impact analysis of key growth drivers and restraints, based on the weighted average model, is included in this report to better equip clients with crystal clear decision-making insights.

The Semiconductor Assembly and Testing Services market is segmented as follows:

  • By Services
  • By Application
  • By Region

On the basis of services, the SATS market is segmented into:

  • Assembly & Packaging Services
  • Testing Services

Of these, the assembly & packaging services accounted for the highest share of the overall semiconductor assembly and testing services market in 2014. The semiconductor assembly and testing services market is mainly driven by factors such as increasing adoption of consumer electronics products such as tablet PCs and wearable devices (smart watches, head mounted devices, fitness equipment etc. in the developed economies.

The section that follows analyzes the market on the basis of packaging solutions and presents the market size in terms of value for the forecast period.

On the basis of packaging solutions, the SATS market is segmented as follows:

  • Copper Wire and Gold Wire Bonding
  • Copper Clip
  • Flip Chip
  • Wafer Level Packaging
  • TSV

Of the above-mentioned segments, the wafer level packaging segment is expected to increase at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. However, the copper wire and gold wire bonding segment is expected to dominate the semiconductor assembly and testing services market in terms of value, by 2021.

On the basis of application the SATS market is segmented as follows:

  • Communication
  • Computing and Networking
  • Consumer electronics
  • Industrial
  • Automotive electronics

Of the aforementioned segments, the consumer electronics segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. However, the communications application segment is expected to dominate the semiconductor assembly and testing services market in terms of value, by 2021. Leading market participants are investing heavily in R&D activities in order to innovate new advanced packaging solutions that would cater to the growing demand of miniaturization and low power requirements. For instance, in May 2014, STATS chip PAC (now JCET) introduced innovative FlexLine Manufacturing line. This manufacturing line can process multiple silicon wafer diameters, and produce both fan-in and fan-out wafer level packages on it. Additionally, it pioneered the Through Silicon via (TSV) enabled 3D chip stacking technology in August 2013.

The report also analyzes the market on the basis of region and presents the market size in terms of value for the forecast period.

Regions covered in the report are as follows:

  • North America
  • Asia Pacific Excluding Taiwan
  • China
  • Japan
  • Singapore,
  • Thailand
  • The Philippines
  • Taiwan
  • Europe
  • The Middle East & Africa
  • Latin America

Of the aforementioned segments, the Taiwan market is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period and is expected to remain largest market share, out of the total semiconductor assembly and testing services market in 2021.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM)  today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI),  and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., have extended their decade-long strategic foundry collaboration to manufacture Qualcomm Technologies’ latest Snapdragon premium processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, with Samsung’s 10-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology.

The decision to use Samsung’s cutting edge process in the next generation premium processor highlights Qualcomm Technologies’ continued dedication in being the technology leader in mobile platforms.

“We are excited to continue working together with Samsung in developing products that lead the mobile industry,” said Keith Kressin, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies. Inc. “Using the new 10nm process node is expected to allow our premium tier Snapdragon 835 processor to deliver greater power efficiency and increase performance while also allowing us to add a number of new capabilities that can improve the user experience of tomorrow’s mobile devices.”

In October, Samsung announced they are the first in the industry to enter mass production of 10nm FinFET technology. Compared to its 14nm FinFET predecessors, Samsung’s 10nm technology allows up to a 30% increase in area efficiency with 27% higher performance or up to 40% lower power consumption. Using 10nm FinFET, the Snapdragon 835 processor will offer a smaller chip footprint, giving OEMs more usable space inside upcoming products to support larger batteries or slimmer designs. Process improvements, combined with a more advanced chip design, are expected to bring significant improvements in battery life.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to work closely with Qualcomm Technologies in producing the Snapdragon 835 using our 10nm FinFET technology,” said Jong Shik Yoon, executive vice president and head of foundry business, Samsung. “This collaboration is an important milestone for our foundry business as it signifies confidence in Samsung’s leading chip process technology.”

Snapdragon 835 is in production now and expected to ship in commercial devices in the first half of 2017. Snapdragon 835 follows the Snapdragon 820/21 processor, which has over 200 designs in development.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303), a global semiconductor foundry, today celebrated the grand opening of United Semi, UMC’s 12-inch joint venture wafer fab in Xiamen China. The fab, which was completed in record time, realized volume production for customer products merely 20 months after groundbreaking in March of 2015. Pilot production yields for communication ICs at the fab have already exceeded 99% on the company’s 40nm process. Zhuang Jiahan, city mayor of Xiamen, delivered the keynote speech for today’s event.

Po-Wen Yen, CEO of UMC, said “Owing to the tireless teamwork of our suppliers, facilities management and engineering teams, we have realized successive, noteworthy milestones since United Semi broke ground in March, 2015. We achieved cleanroom readiness and equipment move-in within a year, and pilot run verification to mass production in only 8 months. With United Semi being able to leverage UMC’s technology expertise and over 35 years of proven manufacturing experience, we believe this new fab is the best choice for IC designers in China and worldwide who wish to manufacture their products locally in order to serve China’s vast electronics market, while also mitigating geographic risk. We are excited for the future of United Semi as today’s grand opening kicks off the next growth stage for UMC.”

United Semi is a 3-way joint venture foundry company between UMC, Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and Fujian Electronics & Information Group. Its fab, Fab 12X, is southern China’s first 300mm foundry facility. The fab will utilize UMC’s mass production 55nm and 40nm technologies, with a maximum design capacity of 50,000 wafers per month. The main advantage for choosing Xiamen as the fab location is its short distance from Taiwan, allowing seamless support from UMC’s Taiwan headquarters. Furthermore, Xiamen has a well-established infrastructure to supply ample local engineering talent and logistical support. United Semi complements UMC’s Hejian fab in Suzhou, China, which provides 8” foundry services for local and international customers.

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global fan-in wafer-level packaging (WLP) market is expected to reach USD 4.75 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of almost 10%.

This research report titled ‘Global Fan-In WLP Market 2016-2020’ provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. The report also presents a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendors manufacturing fan-in wafer-level packages in North America, APAC, and Europe.

The increasing number of fabs globally has pushed the demand for IC packaging solutions. The vendors are setting up new fabs in different countries to produce memory devices like dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and not AND (NAND). The transition of semiconductor industry such as miniaturized semiconductor electronics, because of emerging technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT), is also driving the global fan-in WLP market.

The surging demand for compact electronic devices in sectors such as telecommunications, automotive, industrial manufacturing, and healthcare has generated the need for miniaturized semiconductor ICs. With the emergence of products such as 3D ICs and MEMS devices, the electronic equipment is becoming compact and user-friendly, which involves changes in IC designing such as finer patterning.

Technavio’s sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Technavio’s hardware and semiconductor analysts categorize the global fan-in WLP market into five major segments by application. They are:

  •    CMOS image sensor
  •    Wireless connectivity
  •    Logic and memory IC
  •    MEMS and sensor
  •    Analog and mixed IC

The top three segments by application for the fan-in WLP market are:

Analog and mixed ICs

The global analog and mixed IC shipments amounted to 27.57 billion units in 2015 and will reach 40.93 billion units by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 8.22% during the forecast period.

The demand for analog ICs from different segments (such as consumer electronics, communications, and automotive) is gradual but significant. The rising demand for smartphones, phablets, and tablets worldwide is driving their demand in the communications segment. The increasing pace of new product development, the declining cost per function of ICs, and the reduced product replacement cycle have contributed to the high demand for semiconductor ICs and, therefore, analog ICs. The rapid technological developments in the semiconductor industry and the development of efficient analog ICs (which deliver optimized performance) have also increased the proliferation of analog ICs in the global market space.

Wireless connectivity

The global shipments in the wireless connectivity segment amounted to 2.71 billion units in 2015 and will reach 4.79 billion units by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 12.07% during the forecast period.

The wireless connectivity segment includes the demand for fan-in WLP solutions from technologies such as Wi-Fi, RF transceivers, Bluetooth, DC/DC converters, audio/video codecs, RF filters, gyroscopes, and accelerometers, which assist in providing optimum wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi technology is adapting to new protocol versions such as Wi-Fi Direct, 802.11ac, and 801.11ad. With continuous evolution of new technologies and continuous integration of Wi-Fi capability into mobile devices, the demand for wireless connectivity solutions will increase during the forecast period.

According to Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead semiconductor equipment analyst from Technavio, “The global Wi-Fi chipset market is experiencing the transition to 5th Wi-Fi generation, the 802.11ac with MIMO. An increasing number of customers are likely to adopt the technology due to an improvement in speed by up to 1.3 GHz over a long distance.”

Logic and memory ICs

The global shipments in the logic and memory IC segment amounted to 3.51 billion units in 2015 and will reach 4.79 billion units by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.42% during the forecast period.

Technological development has led to the introduction of better electronic devices across sectors, such as high-powered smartphones, performance-packed automobiles, automated machinery in the industrial sector, and electronic devices in the healthcare sector for better monitoring of patients. This has increased the demand for better processing to ensure efficient background operations.

The demand for high-powered processors has increased the demand for logic ICs, especially for automation purposes. This will trigger the demand for fan-in WLP solutions in the logic IC segment as they constitute an integral part of IC packaging at the manufacturing level.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavio’s research analysts in this report are:

  •    STATS ChipPAC
  •    STMicroelectronics
  •    TSMC
  •    Texas Instruments

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

IC Insights will release the 2017 edition of its IC Market Drivers Report later this month.  The newly updated report reviews many of the end-use system applications that are presently impacting the IC market and are forecast to help propel it through 2020.

Total smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 4% in 2016 to 1,490 million units after jumping by 13% to 1,430 million in 2015.  Moreover, smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 5% in 2017, reaching 1,565 million units.  Overall, smartphone unit shipments are now forecast to grow at single-digit annual rates through 2020.

Smartphones accounted for over 50% of total quarterly cellphone shipments for the first time ever in 1Q13 (Figure 1).  Smartphone shipments fell to 340 million units in 1Q16 yet still represented 80% of total cellphones shipped that quarter, the same penetration as in 4Q15.  In 4Q16, it is expected that smartphone shipments will surge to a new record high of 437 million and represent 84% of all cellphones shipped that quarter.  On an annual basis, smartphones first surpassed the 50% penetration level in 2013 (54%) and are forecast to represent 97% of total cellphone shipments in 2020.

In contrast to smartphones, total cellphone handset shipments are forecast to decline by 2% in 2016 and are expected to drop by 1% in 2017 (Figure 2).  As shown, non-smartphone cellphone sales dropped by 30% in 2015 and are forecast to fall by another 22% this year.  Moreover, IC Insights expects the 2017 non-smartphone cellphone unit shipment decline to be steeper than 2016’s drop with a decline of 26%.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 2