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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.”

Total shipments of mobile phone displays, including thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) and active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panels, reached 2.01 billion units in 2017, up 3 percent from 2016, according to preliminary estimate from business information provider IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

In the growing mobile phone display market, shipments of low-temperature-poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT LCD panels, which realize high-resolution images, increased by 21 percent to 620 million units in 2017 compared to the previous year. Shipments of amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFT LCD mobile phone panels declined 4 percent to 979 million units during the same period. Even though shipments of AMOLED panels jumped in the second half of 2017 thanks to the launch of the iPhone X, combined with the weak demand in the first half, its shipments were up just 3 percent to 402 million units in 2017.

In the smartphone-use LTPS TFT LCD market, Tianma, a leading small and medium panel supplier in China, has shown significant growth, expanding its shipments to Chinese smartphone set brands, such as Huawei and Xiaomi. In 2017, Tianma shipped 105 million LTPS TFT LCD panels for smartphones, almost double its shipments in 2016, with a market share of 17 percent, up 6 percentage points from 2016. It ranked the second largest LTPS TFT LCD supplier for smartphones in 2017, taking over LG Display with 16 percent, down 4 percentage points, and Sharp with 13 percent, down 1 percentage point. In 2017, Japan Display continued its market leader position but shed its share by 10 percentage points to 26 percent in 2017, according to the latest Smartphone Display Intelligent Service report by IHS Markit.

02.08.18_smartphone_panel_shipment_share

“LTPS TFT is a key technology to produce high-resolution displays for smartphones, and experience is required to optimize highly complex LTPS manufacturing process in each production fab. In terms of experience, Japanese and South Korean panel makers have a competitive advantage compared to Chinese makers,” said Hiroshi Hayase, senior director at IHS Markit. “However, Chinese LCD makers, such as Tianma and BOE, are catching up LTPS technology fast enough to support high demand from Chinese smartphone set makers.”

The Smartphone Display Intelligent Service by IHS Markit contains quarterly updates of smartphone display shipments and revenue by application, size, resolution and technology. It also provides supply chain information between display and set makers, as well as monthly smartphone display shipment and pricing information.

Applied Materials, Inc. announced today that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, on its 2018 list as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies.

“Ethical business conduct at Applied Materials extends far beyond a set of rules or policies; it is engrained in our values and reflected in the actions of our employees every day,” said Steve Adams, vice president, Litigation, Protection and Compliance at Applied Materials. “I want to thank everyone throughout the company for maintaining responsibility and integrity in all our business and community interactions.”

Applied Materials has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for seven consecutive years. It is one of only six honorees in the Electronics & Semiconductors category.

“I congratulate everyone at Applied Materials for again being recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies,” said Ethisphere’s CEO, Timothy Erblich. “Amidst a rapidly changing technology industry, it is encouraging to see companies like Applied that remain true to their values and continually raise the bar for responsible corporate citizenship.”

This year, Ethisphere recognized 135 companies, spanning 23 countries and 57 industries. These honorees each demonstrated record levels of involvement with their stakeholders and their communities. Listed companies make it a priority to measure and improve corporate culture around ethical practices, to lead authentically and to commit to transparency, diversity and inclusion.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies list is based upon the Ethics Quotient framework, which quantitatively measures a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. Scores are generated in five categories: ethics and compliance program; corporate citizenship and responsibility; culture of ethics; governance; and leadership, innovation and reputation.

The full list of the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.

 

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) today announced that Doug Alexander and MaryFrances McCourt have been appointed as new members of the Company’s Board of Directors. With these appointments, Amkor’s Board has been expanded to twelve members.

“We are pleased to have Doug and MaryFrances join Amkor’s Board,” said James Kim, Amkor’s Executive Chairman. “The demonstrated leadership skills and breadth of experience that they each bring to the Board will be great assets to the Company.”

Mr. Alexander was an original member of the advisory board of Actua Corporation (formerly named ICG Group, Inc.), a multi-vertical cloud technology company. Mr. Alexander joined Actua full-time in September 1997 as Managing Director and was appointed President in January 2009 where he served until December 2017. During his tenure at Actua, Mr. Alexander served in many senior management roles including as CEO of WiseWire Technologies, which was acquired by Lycos; CEO of ICG Europe; CEO of Traffic.com, which was acquired by Navteq; and CEO of Channel Intelligence, which was acquired by Google.

Mr. Alexander has served on the boards of directors for GovDelivery, Procurian, and Bolt. Mr. Alexander has also served as the Co-Chairman of the Philadelphia National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and is Chairman of the Management & Technology Executive Board at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Alexander holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. McCourt is Vice President for Finance and Treasurer at the University of Pennsylvania. In her role, Ms. McCourt leads Penn’s cash and short-term investment and capital financing strategies as well as oversees Penn’s financial functions. Ms. McCourt is responsible for the University’s multi-year financial planning efforts and collaborates closely with Penn Medicine leadership on its growth and financial planning. She directly manages the strategic and operational direction of a variety of functions, including the Comptrollers Office, financial training, global support services, research services, risk management and insurance, student registration and financial services and the Treasurer’s Office.

Prior to joining Penn, Ms. McCourt was the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University. Ms. McCourt has also served in financial-management positions for Agilysis, Inc., a diversified enterprise focused on technology and enterprise system solutions.

She earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Duke University and an MBA from Case Western University.

 

On February 2, 2018, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd (“Seoul”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Italy in the Court of Milan against Mouser Electronics Inc. (“Mouser”), a global electronic components distributor, as well as its Italian subsidiary – for the sale of certain Everlight LED products.

According to the complaint, Seoul has asserted that Mouser is liable for selling such LED products that infringe Seoul’s patent rights. Based on the alleged infringement, Seoul has sought a permanent injunction, damages, withdrawal from the market, and destruction of such products.

Prior to this litigation, Seoul already filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Mouser in Germany in the District Court of Düsseldorf in 2017, accusing high-power and mid-power LED products manufactured by Everlight of infringement.

Despite such lawsuits, however, Mouser has continued to sell products accused of infringement in other countries. For that reason, Seoul launched its third patent infringement lawsuit against Mouser for the sale of Everlight LED products in Italy. Seoul is committed to pursuing enforcement against those that infringe its patent rights.

Seoul has invested 10% of its revenue, more than 100 million dollars per year, in research and development to develop innovative technology and strengthen its patent portfolio since its inception. Seoul has also made a significant commitment to protecting its intellectual property rights against suspected infringement since it successfully obtained a preliminary injunction order against Taiwan LED maker AOT in 2005. For example, in 2014, Seoul filed patent infringement lawsuits against two North American TV makers in 2014, resulting in a judgment based upon one maker’s admissions of infringement, and royalty-bearing licenses by both makers. In 2016, Seoul secured a willful infringement judgment for its LED lens patent against Japanese LED lens maker Enplas from the U.S. district court. In 2017, Seoul resolved a patent infringement litigation that it had against Kmart, and as part of the settlement, Kmart agreed to stop selling certain filament LED bulbs. Seoul also recently began an enforcement campaign for protecting its Acrich technology, and has filed a patent litigation against a U.S. lighting maker for infringement of 12 Acrich patents. Throughout this period, Seoul has continued to put other companies on notice that it suspects of patent infringement.

Seoul plans to continue and expand its patent enforcement against market participants involving suspected-infringement across the world – until they cease suspected-infringement and Seoul secures court remedies to address harm caused by the suspected-infringement.

An official of Seoul’s IP team explained, “In order to fundamentally block distribution of suspected-infringing products, we will have to expand our enforcement efforts to include direct manufacturers, secondary product manufacturers who have purchased or used suspected-infringing components, as well as their distributors.”

He added, “For young entrepreneurs and small businesses that try to realize their dreams with a creative idea, we believe that intellectual property should be respected.”

By Heidi Hoffman, SEMI

SEMI continues to transform to increase its impact on the success of the electronics industry supply chain. As one step in that process, SEMI President & CEO Ajit Manocha has formed a new group, Technology Communities, to better collaborate, align, and enhance all of SEMI’s technology-focused activities by operating them under one umbrella. The group is led by industry-veteran Mike Ciesinski, the new vice president of Technology Communities. Mike has more than 20 years’ experience creating and managing industry consortia and a strong record of fostering collaboration among industry, academia, and government research and development (R&D) agencies.

The charter of Technology Communities is to share best practices for SEMI’s special interest groups (SIGs), including hosting industry-wide CTO forums; providing regional insights; forming member, industry and academic consortia; and engaging with technology thought-leaders. The goal is to elevate the prominence of electronics technology in an effort to improve lives and enhance member profitability by speeding industry collaboration and opportunities for innovation.

SEMI SIGs serve as member groups that share information, explore common opportunities in a synergistic and non-competitive environment and provide a collective voice on issues within the global electronics industry. By segmenting the sprawling electronics supply chain into focused communities, SIGs foster more effective technical discussions and provide exclusive networking and speaking opportunities.

The Technology Communities encompasses Fab Owners Alliance (FOA), FlexTech, and MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), as well as the SEMI Standards organization.  It supports key SEMI market verticals including Smart Manufacturing, Smart Data, and Smart MedTech.

Technology Communities also includes the Chemical & Gases Manufacturers Group (CGMG), the Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG), the Collaborative Alliance for Semiconductor Test (CAST), Semiconductor Components, Instruments and Subsystems (SCIS), the Strategic Innovation Platforms (SIP) and the Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap. Each one of these communities has a unique and focused mission.

For SEMI’s members, these groups mean more opportunities to meet with peers and customers and help to define industry direction.

Members can be confident that SEMI technology SIGs are led by experienced industry professionals with extensive networks and a strong technical knowledge in their respective areas. Alongside Ciesinski, SEMI veteran Tom Salmon leads FOA, while James Amano directs SEMI Standards. Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, PhD, is the new FlexTech leader and CTO, while Frank Shemansky, Jr., PhD, is the MEMS and sensors CTO and oversees the MSIG group.

The HQ team is joined by experienced, knowledgeable professionals in each of SEMI’s seven regions to provide a global network and cross-region collaboration.

It’s easy to get involved and the SEMI groups are always seeking new members and industry drivers. Visit SEMI Special Interest Groups for more details on SEMI’s special interest groups. We will also be bringing you more in-depth articles on each of the technology groups in SGU.

Most of the groups and committees are available to any SEMI member in good standing – simply request to join.  Come to one of our upcoming events – such as 2018FLEX and MSTC2018 — to discuss opportunities to participate.

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.”

Entegris, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ENTG), a developer of specialty chemicals and advanced materials solutions for the microelectronics industry, today reported its financial results for the Company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

The Company reported sales of $1.3 billion for fiscal 2017, an increase of 14 percent from the prior year. Net income for the year was $85.1 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $44.0 million, asset impairment charges of $13.2 million, $2.7 million of severance expenses, $20.7 million related to the refinancing of senior notes, and $66.7 million related to the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In the prior year, net income was $97.1 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $44.3 million, asset impairment charges of $5.8 million, and $2.4 million of severance expenses. Non-GAAP net income for fiscal 2017 was $206.3 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, which increased from $132.8 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, in the prior year.

Fourth-quarter sales were $350.6 million, an increase of 14 percent from the same quarter last year and 1 percent higher sequentially. Fourth-quarter net loss was $28.3 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $11.0 million, $20.7 million related to the refinancing of senior notes, and $66.7 million related to the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Non-GAAP net income was $59.7 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, which compared to $34.3 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the same quarter a year ago. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company generated cash from operations less capital expenditures, or free cash flow, of $60.1 million.

Bertrand Loy, president and chief executive officer, said: “The fourth quarter marked our fifth consecutive record quarter, capping the most successful year in Entegris’ 51-year history. We grew fiscal 2017 sales 14 percent to $1.3 billion, achieving growth across all three divisions, driven by demand for our solutions in advanced memory, logic, and mainstream semiconductor production. We were very pleased with the quality of execution by the Entegris teams around the world. We delivered on our commitment to grow our bottom line at twice the rate of our top line, increasing our adjusted EBITDA by 35 percent to a record high of $357 million, or 26.6 percent of sales for the year. This strong cash flow is allowing us to create significant value through a balanced capital allocation strategy consisting of internal growth investments, strategic acquisitions, and returning available cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Mr. Loy added: “As we look ahead, we have great conviction that the semiconductor industry is in the midst of a multi-year period of growth driven by broadening demand related to artificial intelligence, automotive, industrial, and other new applications. Our value proposition, which is built on a broad array of solutions, is enabling us to expand our served markets and will allow us to continue to outpace our markets.”

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) today announced its top distribution partners for 2017. These awards honor the distributor in each region that led overall channel sales, grew market share, captured increased sales of products from ON Semiconductor’s acquisitions and scored highly on overall process excellence.

The top 2017 distribution partners are:

“Distribution sales accounted for approximately 60 percent of ON Semiconductor’s 2017 annual revenues,” said Jeff Thomson, vice president of global channel sales for ON Semiconductor. “The support of our worldwide distribution partners is fundamental to the success of ON Semiconductor’s ongoing plans to increase market penetration and growing revenue at a faster pace than the industry. The collaborative relationships and progressive sales programs we foster with our channel partners are an integral part of this ongoing plan. As advocates of these goals, each of the 2017 distribution partner award winners successfully grew product sales, generated significant new business, and effectively supported both our customers’ needs and ON Semiconductor’s initiatives for operational excellence. We are pleased to recognize these outstanding channel partners for their valuable contributions throughout 2017 and look forward to continued success in the coming year.”

SK Hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company’, www.skhynix.com) today announced that the company recently completed developing an enterprise SATA Solid State Drive (or ‘eSSD’). With its 72-Layer 512Gb (Gigabits) 3D NAND Flash chips, the company is paving the way for its full-fledged entrance to the high value-added eSSD market.

SK Hynix combined the 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND Flash with its in-house firmware and controller to provide the maximum density of 4TB (Terabytes). SK Hynix makes the most of its 72-Layer 512Gb 3D NAND chips to double the biggest density of the SSD of the same size with 256Gb NAND chips.

A single 4TB SSD could contain 200 UHD (Ultra-HD) movies, each of which is generally as large as approximately 20GB (Gigabytes). The new eSSD supports sequential read and write speed of up to 560MB/s (Megabytes per second) and 515MB/s, respectively, and it can perform 98,000 random read IOPS (Input/Output operations per second) and 32,000 random write IOPS. SK Hynix also improved the read latency, which is of the utmost importance in eSSD performance. The Company is sampling the product to server and data center clients in the United States.

The company also finished developing enterprise PCIe (PCI Express) SSD and is shipping samples to server and data center clients. The PCIe SSD will also use the 72-Layer 3D NAND and have a capacity of more than 1TB. The 1TB PCIe SSD operates at 2,700MB/s and 1,100MB/s of sequential read/write speed and runs random read/write performance of 230,000 IOPS and 35,000 IOPS.

“SK Hynix started mass-producing client SSD with its 3D NAND chips and in-house firmware and controller last year. Now we have expanded our SSD business portfolio with the development of eSSD,” said Jin Kang, the Head of NAND Planning and Enabling. “The company plans to actively meet growing eSSD market demands to contribute to enhancing its profitability in NAND Flash business” he added.

According to IHS Markit, the SSD market revenue is expected to total USD 25.1 billion in 2017 and post a continuous annual growth of 5.6% to total USD 31.2 billion in 2021. Revenue of the enterprise SSD will lead the market growth by rising from USD 13.4 billion to USD 17.6 billion at a CAGR of 7% during the same period.