Tag Archives: letter-mems-business

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled nearly 408 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 5.6 percent decline over the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. This is the first year-on-year decline since Gartner started tracking the global smartphone market in 2004.

“Two main factors led to the fall in the fourth quarter of 2017,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “First, upgrades from feature phones to smartphones have slowed down due to a lack of quality “ultra-low-cost” smartphones and users preferring to buy quality feature phones. Second, replacement smartphone users are choosing quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle of smartphones. Moreover, while demand for high quality, 4G connectivity and better camera features remained strong, high expectations and few incremental benefits during replacement weakened smartphone sales.”

Samsung Retains No. 1 Spot in Fourth Quarter of 2017

Samsung saw a year-on-year unit decline of 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, but this did not prevent it from defending its No. 1 global smartphone vendor position against Apple (see Table 1).

Table 1

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 4Q17 (Thousands of Units)

Vendor

4Q17

Units

4Q17 Market Share (%)

4Q16

Units

4Q16 Market Share (%)

Samsung

74,026.6

18.2

76,782.6

17.8

Apple

73,175.2

17.9

77,038.9

17.8

Huawei

43,887.0

10.8

40,803.7

9.4

Xiaomi

28,187.8

6.9

15,751.3

3.6

OPPO

25,660.1

6.3

26,704.7

6.2

Others

162,908.8

39.9

195,059.1

45.1

Total

407,845.4

100.0

432,140.3

100.0

Source: Gartner (February 2018)

Despite the start of a slowdown in sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8+, the overall success of those models has helped Samsung improve overall average selling price. Samsung is poised to announce the successors to its Galaxy series of smartphones at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. The launches of its next flagship devices are likely to boost Samsung’s smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2018. Although Samsung’s significant sales volumes lean toward midprice and entry-level models, which now face extreme competition and reducing contribution, its profit and average selling price may further improve if these next flagship smartphones are successful.

While Apple’s market share stabilized in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter in 2016, iPhone sales fell 5 percent. “Apple was in a different position this quarter than it was 12 months before,” said Mr. Gupta. “It had three new smartphones — the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X — yet its performance in the quarter was overshadowed by two factors. First, the later availability of the iPhone X led to slow upgrades to iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as users waited to try the more-expensive model. Second, component shortages and manufacturing capacity constraints preceded a long delivery cycle for the iPhone X, which returned to normal by early December 2017. We expect good demand for the iPhone X to likely bring a delayed sales boost for Apple in the first quarter of 2018,” added Mr. Gupta.

Huawei and Xiaomi — The Big Winners in Fourth Quarter of 2017

Huawei and Xiaomi were the only smartphone vendors to achieve year-on-year unit growth (7.6 and 79 percent, respectively) and grew market share in the quarter. With Huawei’s new smartphone additions in the quarter, including Mate 10 Lite, Honor 6C Pro and Enjoy 7S, the vendor broadened the appeal of its smartphones.

Xiaomi’s competitive smartphone portfolio, consisting of its Mi and Redmi models, helped accelerate its growth in the emerging Asia/Pacific (APAC) market. It also helped Xiaomi win back lost share in China.

“Future growth opportunities for Huawei will reside in winning market share in emerging APAC and the U.S.,” said Mr. Gupta. “Xiaomi’s biggest market outside China is India, where it will continue to see high growth. Increasing sales in Indonesia and other markets in emerging APAC will position Xiaomi as a strong global brand.”

In 2017 as a whole, smartphone sales to end users totaled over 1.5 billion units, an increase of 2.7 percent from 2016 (see Table 2). Huawei, ranked No. 3, raised its share in 2017, continuing to gain on Apple. At the same time, the combined market share of the Chinese vendors in the top five increased by 4.2 percentage points, while the market share of top two, Samsung and Apple, remained unchanged.

Table 2

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2017 (Thousands of Units)

Vendor

2017

Units

2017 Market Share (%)

2016

Units

2016 Market Share (%)

Samsung

321,263.3

20.9

306,446.6

20.5

Apple

214,924.4

14.0

216,064.0

14.4

Huawei

150,534.3

9.8

132,824.9

8.9

OPPO

112,124.0

7.3

85,299.5

5.7

Vivo

99,684.8

6.5

72,408.6

4.8

Others

638,004.7

41.5

682,915.3

45.7

Total

1,536,535.5

100.0

1,495,959.0

100.0

Source: Gartner (February 2018)

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Google’s Android extended its lead by capturing 86 percent of the total market in 2017 (see Table 3). This is up 1.1 percentage points from a year ago. “The competition in the smartphone market is unabated at this time of the year,” said Mr. Gupta. “Ahead of MWC, several phone manufacturers such as Samsung, HMD (Nokia), Asus and LG have announced that they will launch new Android smartphones.”

Table 3

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2017 (Thousands of Units)

Operating System

2017

Units

2017 Market Share (%)

2016

Units

2016 Market Share (%)

Android

1,320,118.1

85.9

1,268,562.7

84.8

iOS

214,924.4

14.0

216,064.0

14.4

Other OS

1,493.0

0.1

11,332.2

0.8

Total

1,536,535.5

100.0

1,495,959.0

100.0

Source: Gartner (February 2018)

Further information is available in the Gartner report titled “Market Share: Final PCs, Ultramobiles and Mobile Phones, All Countries, 4Q17.”

A global gathering of more than 650 industry and academic experts, including 140 speakers and 56 exhibitors, shared the latest advancements in both flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) and in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors at 2018FLEX and MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC). Hosted by SEMI strategic association partners, FlexTech and MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), the events presented technologies, integration strategies and packaging/process methodologies that are advancing human-machine interaction in health monitoring and the treatment of illness, automotive systems, consumer electronics, Internet of Things (IoT) and industrial applications.

Speakers offered fascinating views of emerging FHE applications, including:

  • Cortera Neurotechnologies Co-founder and CTO Rikky Muller described how her company is replacing existing large wired sensors with small, minimally invasive thin biomaterials that interact more naturally with the neural cortex. Cortera Neurotechnologies’ devices will be used to treat neurological disease and psychiatric illnesses such as major depressive disorder. “I think we need biological invisibility,” said Muller. “We need materials and form factors that cause no reaction in the human body at all. We need stability and longevity, since we need these devices to outlive us.”
  • Auburn University MacFarlane Endowed Professor & Director Pradeep Lall called his department’s AU-CAVE3 Biometric Sensor Band with LifeSaver App a “guardian angel” that autonomously monitors patients without human interaction and can even call 9-1-1.
  • NASA Ames Research Center Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology Meyya Meyyappansaid that 3D printed electronics will support a multi-material “FabLab” on the International Space Station for repairing or replacing failed devices. “This will free scientists from having to send living supplies back and forth between the ISS and earth at a cost savings of up to $10,000 per pound,” he said.

Synergies and Integration Potential

SEMI for the first time co-located 2018FLEX with MSTC, which allowed attendees to explore potential synergies between the component-level technologies of MEMS/sensors and the more wide-reaching integration technologies of FHE. Longtime MSIG Members Mary Ann Maher, CEO of SoftMEMS, and Chip Spangler, president of Aspen Microsystems, offered a popular short-course on the integration of MEMS sensors and actuators with FHE electronics (FHE). “MEMS integrated with FHE offers distinct advantages for wearables and implantable devices, for example, which require conformal and flexible substrates and interconnections and small, accurate form-factor sensors,” said Maher.

Spangler gave the example of a prosthetic eye, saying, “Because the device must fit the form factor of an eyeball, flex circuits are used to make the antenna that connects to an external camera — which is outside the field of view — as well as to the optic nerve. FHE both facilitates the manufacture of the prosthetic eye and allows it to fit within the confined space of the eye socket.”

Awards and Recognitions

SEMI announced the recipients of its annual FLEXI Awards on February 13, 2018, lauding innovators in categories of R&D Achievements, Product Innovation and Commercialization, Education Leadership, and Industry Leadership. (See press release, “2018 FLEXI Awards Innovation and Leadership in Flexible Hybrid Electronics, February 13, 2018.)

SEMI announced the appointment of Frank A. Shemansky, Jr., Ph.D., as executive director and chief technology officer (CTO) of MSIG. Shemansky brings more than 25 years’ experience in microelectronics to MSIG, where he will now direct global activities. (See press release, Frank Shemansky to Lead SEMI’s MEMS & Sensors Industry Group, February 13, 2018.)

SEMI also recognized the “Innovators of Tomorrow” with its student poster session competition: Jonathan Ting, UC Berkeley: “Fully Screen-printed NiO Thermister Arrays;” Telha Alcagyazi, North Carolina State University: “Multi-modal Array Sensing with Textiles;” and Levent E. Ayguh, Princeton University: “Sound Identification Using Physically Expansive Sensing System.”

The 2018 FLEXI Awards today recognized groundbreaking accomplishments in the Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) sector in 2017. Presented at the opening session of the 17th annual 2018FLEX Conference and Exhibition, in Monterey, California, the awards spotlighted the following leaders in the categories of R&D Achievements, Product Innovation and Commercialization, Education Leadership and Industry Leadership.

Product Innovation – E Ink, creator of Dazzle, the world’s largest electronic paper installation, won a FLEXI for product design and ingenuity, and potential market adoption and revenue generation. Made from electrophoretic display technology, the programmable art installation adorns one side of San Diego International Airport’s new rental car center.

R&D Achievement – The Wearable Device for Dynamic Assessment of Hydration team – consisting of GE Global Research, UES, The University of Arizona, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dublin City University and AFRL – won a FLEXI for developing a paper-based biofluid patch that collects sweat for human hydration index monitoring. Award criteria included research approach, originality and commercial potential for expanding the bounds of flexible or printed electronics.

Technology Leadership In Education – James Turner, research scientist at Binghamton University, won a FLEXI for outstanding leadership and attention to mentoring students during the development of an FHE electrocardiography (ECG) patch. Turner led a group of students through the development which included a multi-disciplinary approach as well as coordination with industry and several academic institutions to correlate reliability data, simulations and optimize design features of the revolutionary patch.

Industry Leadership – David Morton, formerly with the Army Research Laboratory, won a FLEXI for his dedication to building awareness of advanced flexible hybrid electronics in the broader field of electronics. Award criteria include outstanding leadership in public forums and contributions to industry associations.

Technology Champion – Robert Reuss, former program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office at DARPA, won a FLEXI for his extraordinary dedication to growing the flexible electronics industry, early recognition of the impact of large area electronics and strong contributions to helping build the FLEX Conference.

FLEXIs have been the industry’s premier award for distinguished organizations and individuals since 2009. See full list of awardees. The FLEXI Awards are sponsored by FlexTech, a SEMI Strategic Association Partner, an organization dedicated to the success of the FHE sector. The 2018 FLEXI award ceremony was sponsored by SCREEN Holdings.

2018FLEX – February 12-15 in Monterey, California – spotlights FHE innovation drivers in smart medtech, smart transportation, smart manufacturing, smart data, Internet of Things (IoT) and consumer electronics.

SEMI today announced the appointment of Frank A. Shemansky, Jr., Ph.D., as executive director and chief technology officer (CTO) of the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (SEMI-MSIG). Shemansky brings to the leadership post more than 25 years of experience in the microelectronics industry including a strong background in research and development (R&D), manufacturing, product development and technology strategy. He will direct SEMI-MSIG’s global activities, including standards, technical programs and conferences, while strengthening and expanding SEMI’s benefits to the MEMS and sensors community.

“Dr. Shemansky’s deep industry experience makes him an outstanding choice to lead and build on the success of SEMI-MSIG, a vital SEMI community,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “We look forward to Frank drawing on his technology thought-leadership and business development acumen to bring members together to connect, collaborate and innovate with SEMI in order to help grow the MEMS and sensors markets.”

“Frank Shemansky is a strong leader and respected technologist,” said Dave Kirsch, VP/GM of EV Group North America and chair of the SEMI-MSIG Governing Council. “As SEMI-MSIG’s CTO and interim executive director, Frank has been charting our strategic course. Governing Council members are eager to tap Frank’s excellent leadership skills to take SEMI-MSIG to its next level.”

Starting his career at Motorola in semiconductor research and development, Shemansky was part of the team that brought the first commercially available MEMS transducers to market.  Shemansky has also held various management and executive level positions at companies within the MEMs and sensors industry, including Akustica, Lumedyne Technologies, Sensor Platforms, and QuickLogic. He holds seven patents, is a published author in journals ranging from Sensors and Actuators to Microsystem Technologies, and co-authored the first MEMS textbook, Sensor Technology and Devices.

With a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, Shemansky also holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University. He is a recipient of the Motorola Silver Quill Award, the Motorola Scientific and Technical Society Award, and the ASU Graduate Student Research Award.

“I’m very excited to lead SEMI-MSIG,” Shemansky said. “SEMI-MSIG members are enabling and transforming everything from autonomous vehicles to healthcare to drones. SEMI provides a wealth of industry services and global connections that can increasingly facilitate the growth and prosperity of SEMI-MSIG member companies. I look forward to working with our members to bring new value to our industry.”

SiTime Corporation, a developer of MEMS timing devices, announced today that it has shipped cumulatively over 1 billion timing devices.

“SiTime is redefining timing technology, and we’ve only just begun our journey,” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “SiTime is uniquely focused on solving the most difficult timing problems for the electronics industry. That is why customers are using our timing products in self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence systems, and 5G infrastructure. We believe that our timing components will be the device of choice for the next few decades.”

A timing device plays a critical role in most electronic systems. When timing fails, mobile phones miss calls, GPS navigation systems send drivers down the wrong streets, and financial transactions are not completed. SiTime products help prevent events like these from happening. Devices such as mobile phones, fitness trackers, and tablets rely on the small size and low power consumption of SiTime products. Mission-critical electronics such as space rockets, self-driving vehicles, and earthquake detection systems rely on the reliability and precision of the company’s solutions.

The market for all timing devices is $6 billion, and SiTime supplies 90% of the MEMS timing components sold.

“The performance and reliability of MEMS timing have improved dramatically over the past 10 years, making it a superior alternative to legacy technologies such as quartz for many applications,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, senior director of MEMS and sensors at IHS Markit, a global business information provider. “The use of oscillators in end products, as revealed by IHS Markit teardowns, is a great validation of MEMS timing as an established technology.”

SiTime first began operations in 2005 with the goal of transforming the timing industry. Today, the company has over 60 product families, which have garnered multiple industry awards and are being used across every major electronics segment. Even in challenging environments, with shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, and heavy airflow, SiTime products continue to exhibit excellent performance. This makes the company’s timing solutions ideal for automotive, telecommunications, networking, and industrial IoT applications.

“SiTime has made impressive growth in the timing market with its strong portfolio,” said Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of analyst firm Yole Développement. “Their devices are gaining market share in today’s and tomorrow’s growing markets: wearables, IoT, networking, storage, and telecom. Thanks to the dedication and expertise of its teams, SiTime has made the law of semiconductors come true once again: silicon technology always wins in the end.”

Microprocessors, which first appeared in the early 1970s as 4-bit computing devices for calculators, are among the most complex integrated circuits on the market today.  During the past four decades, powerful microprocessors have evolved into highly parallel multi-core 64-bit designs that contain all the functions of a computer’s central processing unit (CPU) as well as a growing number of system-level functions and accelerator blocks for graphics, video, and emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications.  MPUs are the “brains” of personal computers, servers, and large mainframes, but they can also be used for embedded processing in a wide range of systems, such as networking gear, computer peripherals, medical and industrial equipment, cars, televisions, set-top boxes, video-game consoles, wearable products and Internet of Things applications.  The recently released 2018 edition of IC Insights’ McClean Report shows that the fastest growing types of microprocessors in the last five years have been mobile system-on-chip (SoC) designs for tablets and data-handling cellphones and MPUs used in embedded-processing applications (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Figure 1

The McClean Report also forecasts that 52% of 2018 MPU sales will come from sales of all types of microprocessors used as CPUs in standard PCs, servers, and large computers.  As shown in Figure 2, only about 16% of MPU sales are expected from embedded applications in 2018, with the rest coming from mobile application processors used in tablets (4%) and cellphones (28%).  Cellphone and tablet MPUs exclude baseband processors, which handle modem transmissions in cellular networks and are counted in the wireless communications segment of the special-purpose logic IC product category. A little over half of 2018 microprocessor sales are expected to come from x86 MPUs for computer CPUs sold by Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Cellphone and tablet SoC processors were the main growth drivers in microprocessors during the first half of this decade, but slowdowns have hit both of these MPU categories since 2015.  Market saturation and the maturing of the smartphone segment have stalled unit growth in cellular handsets.  Cellphone application processor shipments were flat in 2016 and 2017 and are forecast to rise just 0.3% in 2018 to reach a record high of nearly 1.8 billion units in the year.

The microprocessor business continues to be dominated by the world’s largest IC maker, Intel (Samsung was the world’s largest semiconductor supplier in 2017). Intel’s share of total MPU sales had been more than 75% during most of the last decade, but that percentage is now slightly less than 60% because of stronger growth in cellphones and tablets that contain ARM-based SoC processors.  For nearly 20 years, Intel’s huge MPU business for personal computers has primarily competed with just one other major x86 processor supplier—AMD—but increases in the use of smartphones and tablets to access the Internet for a variety of applications has caused a paradigm shift in personal computing, which is often characterized as the “Post-PC era.”

This year, AMD looks to continue its aggressive comeback effort in x86-based server processors that it started in 2017 with the rollout of highly parallel MPUs built with the company’s new Zen microarchitecture. Intel has responded by increasing the number of 64-bit x86 CPUs in its Xeon processors. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and others are also increasing emphasis of processors and co-processor accelerators for machine-learning AI in servers, personal computing platforms, smartphones and embedded processing.

The 2018 McClean Report shows that the total MPU market is forecast to rise 4% to $74.5 billion in 2018, following market growth of 5% in 2017 and 9% in 2016.  Through 2022, total MPU sales are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%.  Total microprocessor units are expected to rise 2% in 2018, the same growth rate as 2017, to 2.6 billion units.  Through the forecast period, total MPU units are forecast to rise by a CAGR of 2.1%.

2018FLEX, the Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) Conference and Exhibition, will bring together more than 600 experts from around the world for business-critical insights and the latest technology in both flexible electronics and MEMS and sensors. 2018FLEX – February 13-15 in Monterey, California – will spotlight FHE innovation drivers in smart medtech, smart automotive, smart manufacturing, Internet of Things (IoT) and consumer electronics. The event, hosted by SEMI FlexTech, will feature more than 100 market and technical presentations, 60 exhibits, short courses and opportunities to connect with industry visionaries.

This year 2018FLEX will co-locate with the MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC). February 13-14, MSTC will highlight leading-edge MEMS and sensors system-level solutions, technology and applications. Click here to register for both events.

The flexible and printed electronics markets are expected to reach $20 billion by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.5 percent from 2016 to 2022, according to Zion Research. Flexible hybrid electronics and printed electronics enable new form factors and economics for a diverse set of applications. Examples include minimally invasive implantable systems that treat major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the ability to repair or reproduce failed devices during space exploration, and head-up displays (HUDs) that will use ultra-thin holographic films to project transparent images on car windshields for safer driving.

“Global demand for technical expertise on materials, manufacturing and component technologies in FHE and printed electronics is rapidly growing,” said Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO, Flexible Electronics and Advanced Packaging, SEMI. “2018FLEX offers the latest business and technology insights into applications such as flexible biosensors, flexible displays, drones, smart packaging, 3D printing and human-machine interfaces.”

2018FLEX will also showcase the latest technologies and solutions developed by contractors involved in the public/private research and development funding programs in FlexTech, NanoBio Manufacturing Consortium (NBMC), and NextFlex.

Keynotes headlining 2018FLEX will include:

  • Cortera Neurotechnologies – Minimally invasive implantable biosensors for treating major psychiatric illnesses
  • NASA – In-Space Manufacturing, a multi-material Fab Lab for the International Space Station
  • Luminit – Holographic Optical Element technologies for automotive HUD
  • Panasonic – Flexible hybrid electronics applications for lithium-ion batteries
  • Draper Labs – Flexible drones

2018FLEX will also highlight these exciting technologies:

  • Bonbouton – Graphene-based smart insoles for preventative diabetic healthcare
  • PARC – Latest application projects in environmental monitoring, wearables and supply chain solutions
  • Tekscan – Thin, flexible, tactile sensing technology for intelligent surgical, diagnostic and home healthcare applications

About 2018FLEX

The Flexible Electronics Conference and Exhibition (2018FLEX), now in its 17th year, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa in Monterey. Highlights will include significant technical achievements, opportunities and challenges within the FHE and printed electronics industries.

Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a global semiconductor test handler manufacturer and provider of test automation technical services, announced today that it has received a multisystem order for its Zeus gravity feed systems for handling pressure MEMS devices. The order was placed by a leading manufacturer of tire pressure monitoring system sensors, which selected BSE’s Zeus pressure MEMS solution based on its higher throughput capability.

“This order demonstrates how our innovative MEMS solution is being recognized by the market as a superior alternative for its pressure MEMS testing needs,” said Mike Kerrigan, vice president of sales for BSE. “Our solution dramatically improves throughput by achieving our customers’ desired pressure set points faster and more accurately than others, which in turn makes Zeus’ pressure test handler for MEMS devices a winning investment.”

The Zeus system is a tri-temperature handler that can be configured with up to eight test sites. Cold temperature testing is achieved using LN2 or a BSE-designed, two-stage chiller, the MR2. Zeus offers the features and performance needed by today’s test cells at a more affordable price point.

By Emir Demircan, Senior Manager Advocacy and Public Policy, SEMI Europe

Electronic manufacturing is becoming cool to today’s youth. STEM skills are hot in the global job market – though the number of females pursuing a STEM education continues to lag. Work-based learning is key to mastering new technologies. And the electronics industry needs a global talent pipeline more than ever.

These were key highlights from a SEMI Member Forum in December that brought together industry representatives and students in Dresden to weigh in on job-skills challenges facing the electronics manufacturers and solutions for the industry to consider. Here are the takeaways:

1) Electronics is much more than manufacturing

For many years, working in the manufacturing industry was not an appealing prospect for millennials. This picture is certainly changing. The pivotal role of electronics manufacturing in helping solve grand societal challenges in areas such as the environment, healthcare and urban mobility is reaffirmed by countries around the world. Electronics is the lifeblood of game-changing technologies such as autonomous driving, AI, IoT, and VR/AR, enticing more young employees into careers in research, design, technology development, production, cyber security and international business, and in disciplines ranging from engineering and data analytics to software development and cyber security.

What’s more, the drudgery of many factory jobs is disappearing thanks to automation, digitization and robotization. According to CEDEFOP, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, low-skilled jobs in electro-engineering and machine operations/assembly in the European Union (EU) is projected to decrease 6.98 percent and 2.03 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2025.

In parallel, the industry will need more high-skilled workers. For instance, within the same period, CEDEFOP forecasts a 12.51 percent increase in jobs for EU researchers and engineers. Soft skills will see high demand too. As the electronics industry continues to globalize and drive the integration of vertical technologies, workers proficient in communicating in an international environment, leading multicultural teams, developing tailor-made solutions and making data-driven decisions will see higher demand.

2) STEM skills will remain under the spotlight

Continuous innovation is the oxygen of the electronics manufacturing industry, powering the development of highly customized solutions by workers with technical expertise in chemistry, materials, design, mechanics, production and many other fields. In addition, capabilities such as smart manufacturing require workers with growing technical sophistication in areas such as software, information and communications technology (ICT) and data analytics, stiffening the challenge the electronics industry faces in finding skilled workers. Little wonder that employers in Europe struggle to build a workforce with the right technical expertise. The findings of the study “Encouraging STEM Studies for the Labour Market” conducted by the European Parliament underscores the difficulty of hiring enough workers with adequate STEM skills:

  • The proportion of STEM students is not rising at the European level and the underrepresentation of women persists.
  • Businesses are expected to produce about 7 million new STEM jobs, an uptick of 8 percent, between 2013 and 2025 in Europe.

3) The women-in-tech gap is becoming more persistent 

The global manufacturing industry suffers from strikingly low female participation in STEM education and careers. According to UNSECO, in Europe and North America, the number of female graduates in STEM is generally low. For instance, women make up just 19 percent of engineers in Germany and the U.S. The European Parliament study confirms that STEM employment remains stubbornly male-dominated, with women filling just 24 percent of science and engineering jobs and 15 percent of science and engineering associate positions in Europe. According to an article by Guardian, a mere 16 percent of computer science undergraduates in the United Kingdom and the U.S. are female. This yawning gender gap is a deep concern for electronics manufacturing companies in Europe, hampering innovation in a sector that relies heavily on diversity and inclusion and shrinks the talent pipeline critical to remaining competitive.

4) Coping with new technologies: work-based learning is the key

The evolution of the electronics industry since the 1980s has been swift. PCs emerged largely as islands of communication, then became networked. Networking bred the proliferation of social platforms and mobile devices and, today, is giving rise to IoT. Education curricula in Europe, however, have not matured at the same pace, opening a gap between the worlds of industry and education and imposing a formidable school-to-work transition for many young graduates. Work-based learning, which helps students develop the knowledge and practical job skills needed by business, is one solution. The industry reports that work-based learning is vital to remaining competitive in the long run. Innovative dual-learning programmes, apprenticeships and industrial master’s and doctorates are shining examples that are already paying off in some parts of Europe. Such work-based learning models can be extended as a common pillar of education in Europe.

5) A global industry needs a global talent pipeline

The electronics value chain workforce needs an international and multicultural talent pipeline, chiefly spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia. However, many European manufacturers, in particular small and medium enterprises (SMEs), report that building an international workforce remains a challenge due to employment and immigration law barriers as well as cultural and linguistic differences. The EU’s Blue Card initiative, designed to facilitate hiring beyond Europe, is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, with the exception of Germany, EU member states have made little or no use of the EU Blue Card scheme.

SEMI drives sector-wide initiatives on workforce development

Understanding the urgency, SEMI is accelerating its workforce development activities at global level. Contributing to this initiative, the SEMI talent pipeline Forum in Dresden served as an effective platform for the industry to share its challenges and opportunities with students at various education levels. Led by industry representatives, the sessions enabled the exchange of workforce-development best practices and paved the way for further collaboration among industry, academia and government in Europe. For example, in the Career Café session, students networked with hiring managers. Other workforce development initiatives include:

To help position the skills challenges faced by SEMI members high on the public policy agenda, SEMI in 2017 joined several policy groups including Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and Expert Group on High-Tech Skills. Last year SEMI also launched Women in Tech, an initiative that convenes industry leaders to help increase female representation in the sector. SEMI also educates its members about key EU resources such as the Blue Card and Digital Opportunity Internship programmes aimed at hiring international talent. In 2018, SEMI will reach out to even more young people through its High Tech U programme to raise awareness of careers in electronics. SEMICON Europa 2018 will host dedicated talent pipeline sessions to help the industry tackle its skills challenges. ISS Europe 2018 sessions on Gaining, Training and Retaining World Class Talent will disseminate best practices to the wider industry. Also this year, SEMI Europe plans to start a new advisory group, “Workforce 4.0,” dedicated to bringing together human resources leaders in the sector to give the electronics manufacturing industry a stronger voice on workforce development.

 

GLOBALFOUNDRIES and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announced that ST has selected GF’s 22nm FD-SOI (22FDX) technology platform to support its next-generation of processor solutions for industrial and consumer applications.

After deploying the industry’s first 28nm FD-SOI technology platform, ST is extending its commitment and roadmap by adopting GF’s production-ready 22FDX process and ecosystem to deliver second-generation FD-SOI solutions for the intelligent systems of tomorrow.

“FD-SOI is ideally suited for cost-sensitive applications requiring significant processing and connectivity capabilities at lower power consumption,” said Joël Hartmann, Executive Vice President, Digital Front-End Manufacturing and Technology, STMicroelectronics. “The cost-effective performance and best-in-class energy efficiency benefits of GF’s 22FDX platform, coupled with ST’s extensive design experience and IP base in FD-SOI, will enable our customers with unparalleled value for power, performance and cost. We are relying on GF’s Dresden site for manufacturing products using this technology.”

“ST has established a strong track record with FD-SOI technology,” said Alain Mutricy, senior vice president of product management at GF. “The addition of GF’s 22FDX platform, coupled with ST’s long history of pioneering new technologies and products, will enable the two companies to deliver differentiated FD-SOI products at the 22nm node.”

As a complementary path to FinFETs, GF’s versatile FDX platform offers the ability to integrate digital, analog, and RF functions onto a single chip, which allows customers to design intelligent and fully-integrated system solutions. The technology is uniquely suited for chips that require performance on demand and energy efficiency at the lowest solution cost, making it ideal for a broad range of applications, from intelligent clients and wireless connectivity to artificial intelligence and smart vehicles.