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The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) announced the recipients honored at the 2014 GSA Awards Dinner Celebration that took place in Santa Clara, California. The commemorative event celebrated GSA’s 20th year anniversary. Over the past 20 years, the awards program has recognized the achievements of semiconductor companies in several categories ranging from outstanding leadership to financial accomplishments, as well as overall respect within the industry.

This year, in recognition of GSA’s 20 years of global collaboration, there was a special presentation honoring past Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award recipients, GSA’s most prestigious award.

GSA members identified the Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company Award winners by casting ballots for the industry’s most respected companies for its products, vision and future opportunities. Winners include the “Most Respected Emerging Public Semiconductor Company Achieving $100 million to $250 million in annual sales Award” presented to Ambarella, Inc.; “Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company achieving $251 million to $1 billion in annual sales Award” awarded to InvenSense, Inc.; and “Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company achieving greater than $1 billion in annual sales Award” received by QUALCOMM Incorporated.

The “Most Respected Private Company Award” was voted on by GSA membership and presented to Spreadtrum Communications Inc. Other winners include “Best Financially Managed Company achieving up to $500 Million in annual sales Award” presented to Montage Technology and “Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company achieving greater than $500 million in annual sales Award” earned by Skyworks Solutions, Inc. Both companies were recognized based on their continued demonstration of the best overall financial performance based on specific financial metrics.

GSA’s Private Awards Committee, made up of members of the Emerging Company CEO Council, venture capitalists and select industry entrepreneurs, chose the “Start-Up to Watch Award” winner by identifying a company that has demonstrated the potential to positively change its market or the industry through the innovative use of semiconductor technology or a new application for semiconductor technology. This year’s winner is Ineda Systems, Inc.

As a global organization, the GSA recognizes companies headquartered in the Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. Award winners are chosen by the leadership council of each respective region and are semiconductor companies that demonstrate the most strength when measuring products, vision, leadership and success in the marketplace. The recipient of this year’s “Outstanding Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Company Award” is MediaTek Inc. and “Outstanding EMEA Semiconductor Company Award” is Infineon Technologies AG.

Semiconductor financial analyst Rajvindra Gill from Needham & Company presented this year’s “Favorite Analyst Semiconductor Company Award.” The criteria used in selecting this year’s winner included historical as well as projected data such as per cent stock and revenue increase, net profit margin, revenue forecasts, and product performance. Needham & Company presented to Synaptics, Inc.

The Awards Dinner Celebration was made possible by title sponsor TSMC, VIP and networking reception sponsor Optimal+, as well as general sponsors Advantest, Alix Partners, Altera, AMD, Amkor, ARM, ASE Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Broadcom, Cadence Design Systems, CSR, eSilicon, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, Jefferies Group LLC, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, Marvell, MediaTek, Mentor Graphics, Micron, Microsemi, Model N, Morgan Stanley, Needham & Co., NVIDIA, Open-Silicon, QUALCOMM, Qorvo (RFMD + TriQuint), QuickLogic, Rambus, Samsung, SanDisk, Silicon Labs, SMIC, Synopsys, UMC, VeriSilicon and Wells Fargo.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that John Neuffer has been named president & CEO of the association. He will assume his new role in January, succeeding Brian Toohey, who has been president & CEO since 2010 and announced his plans to leave the association in 2013 to join New Hampshire-based DEKA Research & Development Corporation.

As Senior Vice President for Global Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Neuffer has been responsible for all aspects of ITI’s global government relations covering a wide range of policy areas, including trade, cyber security, standards, regulatory, and privacy. Before joining ITI, John served for over seven years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Deputy Assistant USTR for Japan.

“John Neuffer’s extensive trade and tech industry experience positions him well to build on the strong tradition of SIA’s leadership role for the U.S. semiconductor industry,” said Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel and SIA Chairman. “John’s deep understanding of the importance of technological innovation to the U.S. economy and proven track record of success will serve him well as he takes the helm at SIA. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Brian Toohey for his outstanding leadership and service to the industry.”

“I am honored to assume the leadership of this outstanding organization that has made such an enduring impact to the semiconductor industry and the U.S. economy,” said Neuffer. “I am excited to advance the mission of SIA and its member companies at a time when the global landscape offers both great opportunities and great challenges.”

“I applaud the selection of John Neuffer as SIA’s next president & CEO,” said Brian Toohey. “I have had the opportunity to work closely with John on a number of key international initiatives during my time at SIA and know he will be a highly effective leader for the organization. It has been an honor to serve on behalf of an exceptional association and industry, and I wish John well in his new role.”

Neuffer is an executive committee member and former chairman of the U.S. Information Technology Office in Beijing and a member of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on ICT, Services, and Electronic Commerce. Prior to his tenure with USTR, Neuffer lived and worked in Japan for 11 years, where he was an expert in Japanese politics and policy.

TSMC held its 14th annual Supply Chain Management forum on December 4, 2014 to show appreciation for the support and contributions of its suppliers in 2014, and to recognize nine outstanding equipment and materials suppliers. The theme of this year’s forum was “Collaborate and Win Together,” and over 600 suppliers around the world in the fields of equipment, materials, packaging, testing, facilities, IT systems and services, and environmental and waste management services participated in the forum.

“TSMC’s success comes from collaborating with our customers and suppliers through our Grand Alliance so that we magnify each others’ innovations and stand together as a most powerful competitive force in the semiconductor industry,” said TSMC Co-Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mark Liu. “Our supplier partners are a critical part of this alliance, and we look forward to reaping the rewards of many years of strong growth together.”

“We are very grateful for our supplier partners’ full support as we ramp our 20nm capacity at a record-breaking rate. This year’s award winners have provided exemplary service to TSMC,” said TSMC Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Dr. Steve Tso. “Our hard work together over the past year has laid strong foundation for the upcoming ramp in 16nm, which will generate even more opportunities for us all.”

In addition to recognizing suppliers’ excellent overall performance with the “Supplier Excellence Award,” TSMC also established the “Outstanding Contribution Award” this year to recognize a company that collaborated closely with TSMC in the spirit of the Grand Alliance to produce first-rate results.”

The winners are as follows:

Outstanding Contribution Award
Applied Materials, Inc. –Outstanding Contribution in EPI/PVD Equipment and Local Service

Excellent Performance Award [In alphabetical order]
EBARA Corporation- Excellent Performance in CMP Equipment
Fujifilm Electronic Materials- Excellent Performance in CMP Slurry
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation – Excellent Performance in Etch Equipment
JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation- Excellent Performance in Metal Target
KLA-Tencor Corporation- Excellent Performance in Inspection Equipment
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd- Excellent Performance in Lithography Material
SUMCO Corporation- Excellent Performance in Raw Wafer Material
Tokyo Electron Limited- Excellent Performance in Equipment Productivity Improvement

SEMI today reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$ 8.82 billion in the third quarter of 2014. The billings figure is 8 percent lower than the second quarter of 2014 and 15 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from over 100 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $9.32 billion in the third quarter of 2014. The figure is 4 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago and 6 percent lower than the bookings figure for the second quarter of 2014.

The quarterly billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars, quarter-over-quarter growth and year-over-year rates by region are as follows:


Region


3Q2014


2Q2014


3Q2013

3Q14/2Q14
(Q-o-Q)

3Q14/3Q13
(Y-o-Y)
Taiwan

2.30

2.48

2.24

-7%

3%
North America

2.16

2.32

1.22

-7%

77%
Japan

1.10

1.00

0.83

10%

32%
Korea

1.00

1.73

1.50

-42%

-34%
China

0.96

1.03

0.60

-7%

59%
Europe

0.66

0.57

0.60

16%

9%
ROW

0.64

0.50

0.64

28%

1%
Total

8.82

9.62

7.64

-8%

15%

Source: SEMI/SEAJ December 2014;Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.

The Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) from SEMI provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that it has acquired privately held Solid State Equipment Holdings LLC (“SSEC”), based in Horsham, Pennsylvania. SSEC is an innovator in single wafer wet etch, clean and surface preparation equipment targeting high growth segments in advanced packaging, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and compound semiconductor.

“SSEC is a highly successful process equipment company that is a great strategic fit with Veeco,” said John R. Peeler, Veeco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Their complementary and differentiated ‘soak and spray’ technology delivers single wafer control with the low cost of batch processing. SSEC extends our compound semiconductor and MEMS footprint, and represents a stepping stone to the high-growth advanced packaging market. This is a synergistic transaction that will be immediately accretive and that we expect will drive growth and profitability.”

Demand for higher performance, increased functionality, smaller form factor and lower power consumption in mobile devices, consumer electronics and high performance computing is accelerating advanced packaging technology adoption. Key drivers for this inflection are applications in 3D stacked memory, 3D system-on-chip and MEMS. Increasing shipments in smartphones and wearable electronics with more sophisticated sensing functions further drive growth in the MEMS market. Veeco estimates that its served available markets for advanced packaging, compound semiconductor and MEMS are all growing at double-digit compound annual growth rates.

Herman Itzkowitz, SSEC’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We are excited to join the Veeco team. Veeco is a dynamic market leader in compound semiconductor equipment for LED, power electronics, and wireless devices. Combining resources will enable us to accelerate growth and to pursue market opportunities in advanced packaging and MEMS. In addition, we have significant untapped potential in Asiaand Europe, where Veeco’s impressive sales and service network will provide connectivity to key customers.”

Interview with SEMI Europe’s Yann Guillou gives attendees a preview of the event

This year’s European 3D TSV Summit is fast approaching. Many actors from the 3D TSV supply chain will convene to Grenoble (France) on Jan 19-21, 2015. This year’s theme is “Enabling Smarter Systems”.

In a recent interview published by 3DIncites, Yann Guillou, the event’s architect, revealed the inspiration behind this year’s theme. “Each year, we try to have our conference theme reflect the current state of 3D technology as expressed by industry leaders,” he explained. “When we look at the most recent evolution of 3D TSV technology, we see that TSVs have become an indispensable part of the smarter systems development, so the theme ‘Enabling Smarter Systems’ seemed to stem quite naturally from this.”

The Summit will boast three keynote speakers who are experts in the field of 3D TSV.  In the interview, Guillou shares his excitement about the keynote choices, who all hail from companies particularly active in the 3D TSV sector. Of keynote speaker Timo Henttonen, Senior manager of packing at Microsoft, Guillou said: “For years, [he] has been a key person at Nokia in the packaging group driving new technology developments and implementing them in large volumes. Now, with Nokia’s mobile phone unit having been absorbed into Microsoft, what Timo will share with attendees should be a highlight of the Summit.” Also participating as keynote speakers will be Bryan Black, Senior Fellow at AMD and Bill Chen, Fellow and Senior Technical Advisor at ASE Group.Of the latter, Guillou says, “Bill rarely delivers talks in Europe, and I’m sure he will have key messages to pass on to attendees in his explanation of how ASE sees TSV contributing to their upcoming business activities.”

Along with keynote speakers, the conference will offer a host of invited speakers to discuss various topics that relate to 3D TSV. According to Yann Guillou, multiple criteria such as internationality and diversity of functions in the supply chain determine which speakers will be invited to present at the European 3D TSV Summit. To continue offering a program that deals with the most pressing challenges being faced by manufacturers, SEMI will include new subjects that have not been treated in previous editions of the Summit.

“For instance,” Mr. Guillou explains, “we wanted to have some presentations on ‘Interposers’, from a product and business perspective as well as from a technology perspective. In this regard, on the interposer technology side, we will take a closer look at the glass approach that is important not to neglect.”

For the first time ever, the Summit will also highlight 3D TSV technology in photonics hosting IBM and HP to present on the subject.

Since its debut, the organizers of the European 3D TSV Summit have insisted on the importance of presenting 3D TSV not only from a technology angle, but also from a business angle. “SEMI is a trade association,” states Guillou, “and one of our main goals is to inform and support our members in detecting business opportunities.” This year, SEMI will take this one step further, offering an entire Market Briefing dedicated to the outlook for the 2.5D and 3D markets, and hosting market analysts from Yole Développement, ATREG, TechSearch International and AlixPartners.

When asked what is unique about the event, Yann Guillou answers, “We are proposing a full ‘experience’ for attendees… The event is a unique combination of keynote and invited talks, industry-relevant panel discussion and a quite specialized exhibition that receives high foot traffic.” With over 330 attendees at each of the past two editions of the European 3D TSV Summit, it appears that the 3D TSV community has embraced the concept.

For more information about the European 3D TSV Summit, you can visit the website: www.semi.org/European3DTSVSummit

Microelectronics industry executives will convene at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) on  January 11-14 to discuss “Riding the Wave of Silicon Magic.”  The SEMI executive conference, which takes place in Half Moon Bay, Calif., will explore the economic, market, technology and manufacturing trends taking place in the industry. ISS brings industry executives together to hear diverse perspectives from IC design, manufacturing, foundry, R&D, and consumer electronics.  At the Industry Strategy Symposium, industry leaders present the current status of their major technological and economic challenges while economists and industry analysts present their views of global economic and industry forecasts.

Rising complexity and costs for developing and manufacturing IC devices has led to major consolidation of device makers and semiconductor equipment and material suppliers. Consolidation has changed the industry supply chain and raises the stakes for those making the “silicon magic” that is enabling our digital world. The availability of digital devices, the ubiquitous tablets and smart phones, and the exciting possibilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) are forecast to increase growth in ICs again in 2015.  ISS will focus on the realities of a changing supply chain ecosystem and directions for continued growth and inflection in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

Highlights of the conference include:

·        Keynotes: Scott McGregor, president and CEO at Broadcom, and Charles Toups, VP at Boeing

·        Economic Trends session: Keynote by Nariman Behravesh, chief economist, IHS; with presentations from IDC, Linx Consulting, Stratfor, and VLSI Research

·        Market Perspective session: Keynote by Jim Elliott, corporate VP at Samsung Semiconductor; with presentations by CEA, Cisco, Gartner, Intel, and McKinsey

·        Technology and Manufacturing session: Keynote by Cliff Hou, VP at TSMC; with presentations by ASE, ASE Group, Honeywell, imec, Intel, Micron, and XMC

·        Opportunities at the Edge: Presentations by IBM, Illumina, and Lux Research

For more information on the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium, please visit: www.semi.org/issus.

SEMI projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will increase 19.3 percent to $38.0 billion in 2014, according to the SEMI Year-end Forecast, released today at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition.  In 2015, strong positive growth is expected to continue, resulting in a global market increase of 15.2 percent before moderating in 2016.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to increase 17.8 percent in 2014 to total $29.9 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will increase by 30.6 percent to $3.0 billion in 2014. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase by 26.5 percent, reaching $3.4 billion this year. The “Other Front End” category (fab facilities, mask/reticle, and wafer manufacturing equipment) is expected to increase 14.8 percent in 2014.

For 2014, Taiwan, North America, and South Korea remain the largest spending regions.  In terms of percentage growth, SEMI forecasts that in 2015, Europe will reach equipment sales of $3.9 billion (47.9 percent increase over 2014), Taiwan will reach $12.3 billion (28.1 percent increase), and South Korea sales will hit $8.0 billion (25.0 percent increase).

The following results are given in terms of market size in billions of U.S. dollars:

The Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) from SEMI provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market.

SEMI is the global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains.

Over 500 exhibiting companies from 20 countries and more than 40,000 attendees are expected to attend SEMICON Korea 2015, to be held February 4-6 at COEX in Seoul. Keynotes include ES Jung, EVP and GM, Samsung Electronics, on “Breaking the Limits of Semiconductor Technology through Open Collaboration,” Wen-Hann Wang, corporate VP at Intel, on “Inventing a Better Future: Intelligence Everywhere,” and Maciej Kranz, VP at Cisco, on “Internet of Everything: Turning Vision into Reality.” SEMICON Korea will bring together global leaders in semiconductor manufacturing to share critical new technological development and business opportunities. The event is co-located with LED Korea 2015, the largest exhibition in the world for LED manufacturing. Complimentary registration opens today.

Some of the largest projects driving the Korean equipment market this year include, but are not limited to, Samsung’s Line 16 and S1 line, and Hynix’s M10 and M11. In 2014, front-end fab equipment spending in Korea is expected to reach about $6 billion with another $7-8 billion forecast for 2015. In 2015, for fab equipment, Korea is forecast to outspend all regions except one.

Highlights include:

  • Semiconductor Technology Symposium (STS): With the theme “Breaking through the Limitations of Semiconductor Technology,” STS addresses the global trends and new technologies of the semiconductor manufacturing process, including: Lithography; Process Technology; Device Technology; Etching Technology; CMP Technology; Packaging; and Advanced Metrology and Inspection.
  • Supplier Search Program: Where global leading device makers like Intel, SONY and TI find new local business partners.
  • OEM Supplier Search Meeting: Local parts and components companies to pursue new business opportunities with top level OEMs.
  • Presidents Reception: Attracts more than 340 participants including industry leaders, decision makers and VIPs.
  • Standards: STEP: Equipment Data Acquisition, EDA; and technical chapter meetings (IC; FPD Metrology)

Premier sponsors of SEMICON Korea 2015 include: Lam Research, Applied Materials, Wonik, Advantest, TEL, Hanmi Semiconductor, Exicon, ASE, Hitachi High Technologies and PSK.

SEMICON Korea 2015 is the leading semiconductor technology event to explore the latest market trends and future developments for technology, featuring extensive technical forums, business programs and standards programs. A complete schedule of programs is available here: www.semiconkorea.org/en/Programs/ProgramCalendar

In conjunction with SEMICON Korea, LED Korea 2015 will hold a three-day technical conference to present the latest technical perspectives on LED manufacturing and applications.

Online pre-registration for visitors and programs is now in process for free entrance to SEMICON Korea 2015 and LED Korea 2015. For registration, please visit www.semiconkorea.org  and www.led-korea.org.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.10 billion in orders worldwide in October 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.93, according to the October EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 0.93 means that $93 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in October 2014 was $1.10 billion. The bookings figure is 7.0 percent lower than the final September 2014 level of $1.19 billion, and is 1.9 percent lower than the October 2013 order level of $1.12 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in October 2014 was $1.18 billion. The billings figure is 5.8 percent lower than the final September 2014 level of $1.26 billion, and is 10.6 percent higher than the October 2013 billings level of $1.07 billion.

“While the global semiconductor equipment industry will see strong double-digit growth this year and is slated for further growth in 2015, order activity posted by North American suppliers has moderated, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio below parity for two consecutive months,” said SEMI president and CEO Denny McGuirk.

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 2014

$1,407.8

$1,407.0

1.00
June 2014

$1,327.5

$1,455.0

1.10
July 2014

$1,319.1

$1,417.1

1.07
August 2014

$1,293.4

$1,346.1

1.04
September 2014 (final)

$1,256.5

$1,186.2

0.94
October 2014 (prelim)

$1,184.0

$1,102.9

0.93

Source: SEMI, November 2014