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Amkor Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: AMKR), a semiconductor packaging and test service provider, this week announced it has shipped 700 million RF and front-end advanced system-in-package (SiP) modules for mobile device applications.

“Reaching this milestone affirms our leadership role in advanced SiP technologies,” said Steve Kelley, CEO and President of Amkor Technology Inc. “Our broad technology portfolio and engineering talent make Amkor an excellent choice for customers seeking high-performance, miniaturized solutions. In addition to building today’s laminate-based SiPs, we are also developing wafer-level SiP technology to enable the next generation of thinner, higher-performance electronic products.”

An advanced SiP module is composed of multiple semiconductor components with different functionalities which are combined into a single integrated circuit (“IC”) package. Advanced SiPs allow designers to squeeze more functionality into a smaller space, while increasing system performance and lowering system power consumption. Advanced SiPs use a variety of interconnect technologies including wire-bond, flip chip, copper pillars and through silicon vias (TSVs).

Amkor’s laminate-based SiPs are manufactured in high volumes and have fast cycle-time, making them very cost-effective. The company’s wafer-based Silicon Wafer Integrated Fan-out (SWIFT™) and Silicon-less Integrated Module (SLIM™) technologies provide thinner packages at finer line/space geometries and higher densities than laminate-based SiPs. Both SWIFT and SLIM offer a lower-cost alternative to TSV-based 2.5D and 3D packaging.

PC shipments in India totalled nearly 2.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 10.6 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Consumers accounted for 40 percent of total PC sales in the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 52 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014,” said Vishal Tripathi, research director at Gartner. ” The PC market in India is facing some challenging market dynamics.The enterprise segment might witness some growth going forward due to government and education projects, however we do not foresee significant growth in the PC market in India.”

White boxes (including parallel imports), which accounted for 32 percent of the overall desktop market, declined 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. In the fourth quarter, mobile PCs grew by 27 percent year-on-year primarily due to state government orders.

Lenovo moved into the number one position in PC shipment in India in the fourth quarter of 2015 (see Table 1) due to the state government order execution in the quarter which helped Lenovo experience the largest increase in market share.

Table 1

Vendors

4Q15 Market Share (%)

4Q14 Market Share (%)

Lenovo

25.3

18.0

HP

23.3

25.5

Dell

20.6

24.1

Acer

13.9

9.9

Others

16.9

22.5

Total

100.0

100.0

Gartner (March 2016)

Note: PC shipments include desk-based and mobile PCs.

ARM and TSMC announced a multi-year agreement to collaborate on a 7nm FinFET process technology which includes a design solution for future low-power, high-performance compute SoCs. The new agreement expands the companies’ long-standing partnership and advances leading-edge process technologies beyond mobile and into next-generation networks and data centers. Additionally, the agreement extends previous collaborations on 16nm and 10nm FinFET that have featured ARM Artisan foundation Physical IP.

“Existing ARM-based platforms have been shown to deliver an increase of up to 10x in compute density for specific data center workloads,” said Pete Hutton, executive vice president and president of product groups, ARM. “Future ARM technology designed specifically for data centers and network infrastructure and optimized for TSMC 7nm FinFET will enable our mutual customers to scale the industry’s lowest-power architecture across all performance points.”

“TSMC continuously invests in advanced process technology to support our customer’s success,” said Dr. Cliff Hou, vice president, R&D, TSMC. “With our 7nm FinFET, we have expanded our Process and Ecosystem solutions from mobile to high performance compute. Customers designing their next generation high-performance computing SoCs will benefit from TSMC’s industry-leading 7nm FinFET, which will deliver more performance improvement at the same power or lower power at the same performance as compared to our 10nm FinFET process node. Jointly optimized ARM and TSMC solutions will enable our customers to deliver disruptive, first-to-market products.”

This latest agreement builds on ARM and TSMC’s success with previous generations of 16nm FinFET and 10nm FinFET process technology. The joint innovations from previous TSMC and ARM collaborations have enabled customers to accelerate their product development cycles and take advantage of leading-edge processes and IP. Recent benefits include early access to Artisan Physical IP and tape-outs of ARM Cortex-A72 processor on 16nm FinFET and 10nm FinFET.

SEMI, the global industry association for companies that supply manufacturing technology and materials to the world’s chip makers, today reported that worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment totaled $36.53 billion in 2015, representing a year-over-year decrease of 3 percent. 2015 total equipment bookings were 5 percent lower than in 2014. The data are available in the Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report, now available from SEMI.

Compiled from data submitted by members of SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), the Worldwide SEMS Report is a summary of the monthly billings and bookings figures for the global semiconductor equipment industry. The report, which includes data for seven major semiconductor producing regions and 24 product categories, shows worldwide billings totaled $36.53 billion in 2015, compared to $37.50 billion in sales posted in 2015. Categories cover wafer processing, assembly and packaging, test, and other front-end equipment. Other front-end includes mask/reticle manufacturing, wafer manufacturing, and fab facilities equipment.

Spending rates increased for Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and China, while the new equipment markets in North America, Rest of World, and Europe contracted. Taiwan remained the largest market for new semiconductor equipment for the fourth year in a row with $9.64 billion in equipment sales. The expanding markets in South Korea and Japan surpassed the North American market, to claim the second and third largest markets, respectively, while North America fell to fourth place at $5.12 billion. The China market remained larger than the Rest of World and European markets.

The global other front end segment increased 16 percent; the wafer processing equipment market segment decreased 2 percent; total test equipment sales decreased 6 percent; and the assembly and packaging segment decreased 18 percent.

Semiconductor Capital Equipment Market by World Region (2014-2015)

2015

2014

% Change
Taiwan

9.64

9.41

2%
South Korea

7.47

6.84

9%
Japan

5.49

4.18

31%
North America

5.12

8.16

-37%
China

4.90

4.37

12%
Rest of World

1.97

2.15

-9%
Europe

1.94

2.38

-19%
Total

36.53

37.50

-3%

Source: SEMI/SEAJ March 2016; Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.

Nanoelectronics research center imec has today announced the opening of its new 300mm cleanroom. With this 4000m2 new facility, imec’s semiconductor research cleanrooms now totals 12,000m2, one of the most advanced research facilities in the world dedicated to scaling IC technology beyond 7nm. This facility will enable imec to keep its global leading position as a nanoelectronics R&D center serving the entire semiconductor ecosystem.  Its global partners including foundries, IDMs, fabless and fablite companies, equipment and material suppliers, will benefit from topnotch semiconductor processing equipment (including alfa and beta tools) to develop innovative solutions for more powerful, high-performing, cheaper and energy-efficient ICs, which are crucial in the evolution of the Internet of Everything and a sustainable digital future.

Extending the existing cleanroom, the new facility complies with the newest standards in the semiconductor industry, and provides additional space for the most advanced tools that will lead innovations in new device and system concepts. Installations of the first tools began in January 2016. The new 300mm cleanroom complements imec’s other production facilities including its bio-nanolabs, neuroelectronics labs, imaging and wireless and electronics test labs, photovoltaic pilot lines, and GaN-on-Si, Silicon photonics and MEMS pilot lines.

“Since our founding in 1984, imec has become the world’s largest independent nanoelectronics research center with the highest industry commitment,” stated Luc Van den hove, president and CEO at imec. “This success is the result of the unique combination of our broad international partner network, including the major global players of the semiconductor industry, top scientific and engineering talent, and imec’s one of a kind infrastructure. The extension of our cleanroom provides our partners with the necessary resources for continued leading edge innovation and imec’s success in the future within the local and global high-tech industry.”

The cleanroom was constructed by M+W, an internationally renowned contractor of  large-scale high-tech infrastructure. The construction was completed in 20 months, and includes a  reflecting facade, from Architect Stéphane Beel, which is intended to integrate the building with the environment. The new cleanroom comprises a total investment (building and equipment) of more than 1 billion euro of which 100 million euro funding from the Flemish Government and more than 900 million euro investments from joint R&D with the leading players from the entire semiconductor industry, totaling more than 90 industrial partners.

new imec center

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Crossbar, Inc. jointly announced today that they had signed a strategic partnership agreement on non-volatile RRAM development and production.

As part of the partnership, SMIC and Crossbar have signed an agreement to provide RRAM blocks based onSMIC’ 40nm CMOS manufacturing process. This will enable customers to integrate low latency, very high performance and low power embedded RRAM memory blocks into MCUs and SoCs, targeting the Internet of Things, wearable and tablet computers, consumer, industrial and automotive electronics markets.

“Crossbar continues to execute on schedule, and is now entering the licensing phase. We are honored to announce the collaboration with SMIC as a major stepping stone towards the commercialization of our RRAM technology,” said George Minassian, CEO and co-founder of Crossbar. “Designers of highly integrated MCUs and SoCs need non-volatile memory technologies that are easy to integrate into their products and can be manufactured using standard CMOS logic processes. Crossbar RRAM technology and SMIC manufacturing expertise are creating a new era of unique memory architectures with tighter security, lower power consumption while providing more capacity and fast access time.”

Crossbar RRAM’s CMOS compatibility and scalability to small process geometries enables the integration of non-volatile memory blocks at the same process nodes of MCUs and SoCs.  RRAM cells are integrated in standard CMOS processes between two metal lines of standard CMOS wafers. This enables extremely integrated solutions with on-chip non-volatile memory, processing cores, analog and RF combined on a single die.

“Based on SMIC’s 40nm process node, wecanoffer high-capacity and low-power memory technology with unique security features for smartcards and various IoT devices to customers.” said Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of SMIC. “We’re delighted to have Crossbar as a new partner in our stable and reliable 40nm technology platform. We are able to support global customers with competitive technology and help them shorten time to market. We’ll continue to attach great importance to long-term strategic cooperation with more world-leading companies to better serve the market and achieve win-win situation in the future.”

Crossbar’s RRAM provides a cost-effective integrated memory solution for embedded applications requiring low power, high performance non-volatile code execution and data storage.

CyberOptics, a developer and manufacturer of high precision sensing solutions, today announced an OEM supplier agreement with Nordson YESTECH to supply its proprietary 3D Multi-Reflection Suppression (MRS) sensors. Nordson will incorporate CyberOptics’ advanced 3D MRS technology that inhibits measurement distortions, into their new 3D FX-940 Ultra Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) systems launching at IPC APEX Expo on March 15-17th in Las Vegas.

“After extensive consideration, we determined the MRS sensor to be the best choice for our demanding product requirements,” said Joe Stockunas, Group Vice President, Nordson Electronics Systems. “This strategic partnership offers the best solution to our customers by combining the strengths of YESTECH’s FX-940 platform and industry-recognized inspection software with this advanced 3D sensor technology.”

“We are pleased to announce the extension of our OEM sensor business to include Nordson YESTECH, a leader in AOI solutions with a broad customer base and vast global reach. Having our award-winning MRS technology incorporated into Nordson’s AOI systems is yet another proof point that our differentiated 3D sensor technology platform is considered industry leading for 3D inspection,” said Dr. Subodh Kulkari, President and CEO, CyberOptics Corporation.

CyberOptics’ sensors are used in general purpose metrology and 3D scanning, surface mount technology (SMT)and semiconductor markets to significantly improve yields and productivity. By leveraging its leading edge technologies, the company has strategically established itself as a global leader in high precision 3D sensors, allowing CyberOptics to further increase its penetration of key vertical markets. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, CyberOptics conducts worldwide operations through its facilities in North America, Asia and Europe.

Nordson YESTECH is a worldwide leader in the design, development and manufacture of advanced automated optical (AOI) inspection solutions for the PCBA and advanced semiconductor packaging industries.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $26.9 billion for the month of January 2016, 2.7 percent lower than the previous month’s total of $27.6 billion and 5.8 percent down from the January 2015 total of $28.5 billion. Sales into the Americas were particularly sluggish, decreasing 5.9 percent month-to-month and 16.9 percent year-to-year. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“Global semiconductor sales decreased in January across most regional markets and product categories, largely due to softening demand and lingering macroeconomic headwinds,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Despite these challenges, modest market growth is projected for 2016, following essentially flat sales last year.”

Regionally, sales decreased in most regions: China (-0.4 percent month-to-month/+4.3 percent year-to-year), Europe (-1.7 percent/-7.7 percent), Japan (-3.3 percent/-5.1 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (-2.8 percent/-6.5 percent), and the Americas (-5.9 percent/-16.9 percent).

Sales also decreased across most major semiconductor product categories, with the notable exception of microprocessors, which increased year-to-year by 2.1 percent.

January 2016

Billions

Month-to-Month Sales                               

Market

Last Month

Current Month

% Change

Americas

5.75

5.41

-5.9%

Europe

2.77

2.72

-1.7%

Japan

2.57

2.48

-3.3%

China

8.45

8.41

-0.4%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.08

7.85

-2.8%

Total

27.62

26.88

-2.7%

Year-to-Year Sales                          

Market

Last Year

Current Month

% Change

Americas

6.51

5.41

-16.9%

Europe

2.95

2.72

-7.7%

Japan

2.62

2.48

-5.1%

China

8.07

8.41

4.3%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.40

7.85

-6.5%

Total

28.55

26.88

-5.8%

Three-Month-Moving Average Sales

Market

Aug/Sep/Oct

Nov/Dec/Jan

% Change

Americas

6.05

5.41

-10.6%

Europe

2.91

2.72

-6.4%

Japan

2.70

2.48

-7.8%

China

8.58

8.41

-1.9%

Asia Pacific/All Other

8.75

7.85

-10.2%

Total

28.97

26.88

-7.2%

STATS ChipPAC Ltd., a provider of advanced semiconductor packaging and test services, today announced that it has been honored with the “Supplier of the Year” award from Inphi Corporation, a provider of high-speed, mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the communications, computing and data center markets.

“With the rapidly increasing volumes of data moving through cloud-based architectures, Inphi strives to provide our customers with reliable, high performance memory interconnect solutions that are cost competitive in the market,” Dr. Ron Torten, Senior Vice President of Operations and Information Technology, Inphi. “STATS ChipPAC delivered exceptional manufacturing performance, quality and responsiveness during this past year which was key to meeting our product and time-to-market goals. We appreciate their commitment to Inphi and commend them for a job well done.”

“Our close collaboration with STATS ChipPAC has ensured that Inphi was successful in delivering new DDR4 interconnect technology that achieves higher memory speeds and capacity, lower power consumption and greater signal integrity for next-generation data centers worldwide,” said Ramanan Thiagarajah, Vice President of Product and Test Engineering, Inphi. “STATS ChipPAC’s deep knowledge of advanced semiconductor packaging and test has been a competitive advantage to Inphi as we develop innovative solutions to meet our customers’ big data requirements.”

Inphi’s memory interconnect products satisfy the growing demand for higher performance, higher bandwidth and improved data transmission in enterprise/cloud computing applications. Inphi utilizes STATS ChipPAC’s fcCuBE technology to achieve the high performance, high processing speeds and increased reliability in semiconductor solutions for next-generation cloud computing networks.

“It is an honor to be named Inphi’s Supplier of the Year. We are excited to be working with Inphi on their memory interconnect products for the rapidly growing and evolving cloud computing market,” said Hal Lasky, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer, STATS ChipPAC. “We are pleased that our fcCuBE technology has proven once again to be a scalable technology that cost effectively addresses the increasing performance, bandwidth and speed requirements in the industry.”

ON Semiconductor Corporation has expanded its portfolio of imaging solutions with the release of its new complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, digital image sensor, the AR1337.

The AR1337 is a 1/3.2-inch format device with back-side illumination targeted for consumer electronics products such as smartphones and tablet computers. The AR1337 incorporates high performance SuperPD phase detect autofocus (PDAF) pixel technology, which delivers focus speeds of 300 ms or less – even in low lighting conditions below 25 lux. Furthermore, by utilizing its on-chip PDAF processing the AR1337 drastically simplifies integration into smartphone platforms and improves camera module integrators throughput from simplified calibration compared to other solutions in the market.

This AR1337 image sensor has an active-pixel array in a 4208 x 3120 pixel arrangement. Building off the success of the company’s proprietary advanced 1.1µm pixel technology, the AR1337 is able to deliver vibrant and realistic image quality with best in class signal-to-noise ratio. Its quantum efficiency reaches up to 82%, providing industry-leading sensitivity. The sensor architecture is designed for low noise to ensure a clean, sharp image. The combination of world-class sensor architecture, advanced pixel design and SuperPD technology delivers a 1/3.2″ sensor that performs incredibly well in a form factor that balances great performance, small module height and cost for mainstream and performance smartphones and consumer devices. The AR1337 image sensor is capable of producing full resolution images at rates of up to 30 frames per second (fps) and supports many video modes including 4K video at 30 fps and 1080P-FullHD video at 60 fps. Furthermore, camera synchronization controls enable dual camera video capture.

“Consumers expect increasingly high performance for their smartphone cameras. They demand great image quality, the ability to take photos in lower light conditions and more recently, the desire for lightning fast autofocus,” comments Vladi Korobov, GM and Senior Director of Technology for the Mobile & Consumer Image Sensor at ON Semiconductor. “With the AR1337 we are responding to each of these demands. Not only does it have great image quality, but its SuperPD technology enables OEMs to achieve fastest possible autofocus locking times.”