Tag Archives: letter-pulse-business

Samsung Electronics and Apple remained the top two semiconductor chip buyers in 2017, representing 19.5 percent of the total worldwide market, according to Gartner, Inc. Samsung and Apple together consumed $81.8 billion of semiconductors in 2017, an increase of more than $20 billion from 2016.

“Samsung Electronics and Apple not only retained their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions, they also radically increased their share of semiconductor spending through 2017,” said Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner “These two companies have held on to the top positions since 2011 and they continue to exert significant influence on technology and price trends for the whole semiconductor industry.”

Eight of the top 10 companies in 2016 remained in the top 10 in 2017, with the top five chip buyers remaining in the same positions (see Table 1). LG Electronics returned to the top 10 and was joined by newcomer Western Digital, which grew its semiconductor spending by $1.7 billion in 2017. BBK Electronics rose one place to sixth position, increasing its semiconductor spending by $5.7 billion.

Table 1. Preliminary Ranking of Top 10 Companies by Semiconductor Design TAM, Worldwide, (Millions of Dollars)

2016 Ranking

2017

Ranking

Company

2016

2017

2017 Market

Share (%)

Growth (%) 2016-2017

1

1

Samsung Electronics

31,426

43,108

10.3

37.2

2

2

Apple*

30,390

38,754

9.2

27.5

3

3

Dell

13,544

15,702

3.7

15.9

4

4

Lenovo

13,384

14,671

3.5

9.6

5

5

Huawei

10,792

14,259

3.4

32.1

7

6

BBK Electronics

6,411

12,103

2.9

88.8

6

7

HP Inc.

8,906

9,971

2.4

12.0

8

8

Hewlett Packard Enterprises

6,124

7,199

1.7

17.5

11

9

LG Electronics

5,162

6,537

1.6

26.6

13

10

Western Digital

4,470

6,210

1.5

38.9

Others

212,906

251,206

59.9

18.0

Total

343,514

419,720

100.0

22.2

TAM = total available market

Source: Gartner (January 2018)

A significant price increase of DRAM and NAND flash memory had a big impact on semiconductor buyers’ ranking through 2017. Most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), even the big ones, could not avoid the risk of a memory chip shortage and rise of memory prices through 2017. Supply shortages occurred not just in the memory IC market, but also in other semiconductor chip markets, such as microcontrollers and discrete, as well as in the passive component market, which benefited the suppliers but troubled the OEMs. On the other hand, successful OEMs are often differentiating their products with their own captive silicon solutions. The increase in OEMs’ captive chip spending is a great risk for commercial chip vendors’ future growth.

Semiconductor spending by the top 10 OEMs increased significantly, and their share reached 40 percent of the total semiconductor market in 2017, up from 31 percent 10 years ago. This trend is expected to continue, and Gartner predicts that, by 2021, the top 10 OEMs will account for more than 45 percent of total global semiconductor spending.

“With the top 10 semiconductor chip buyers commanding an increasing share of the market, technology product marketing leaders at chip vendors must focus on their leading customers,” said Mr. Yamaji. “They will need to prioritize direct sales and technical support resources to these top customers by exploiting online technical support capabilities and outsourcing the support for long-tail customers to third-party partners and distributors.”

Annual semiconductor unit shipments (integrated circuits and opto-sensor-discretes, or O-S-D, devices) are expected to grow 9% in 2018 and top one trillion units for the first time, based on data presented in the new, 2018 edition of IC Insights’ McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry (Figure 1).  For 2018, semiconductor unit shipments are forecast to climb to 1,075.1 billion, which equates to 9% growth for the year.  Starting in 1978 with 32.6 billion units and going through 2018, the compound annual growth rate for semiconductor units is forecast to be 9.1%, a solid growth figure over the 40 year span.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Over the span of just four years (2004-2007), semiconductor shipments broke through the 400-, 500-, and 600-billion unit levels before the global financial meltdown caused a big decline in semiconductor unit shipments in 2008 and 2009.  Unit growth rebounded sharply with 25% growth in 2010 and displayed another strong increase in 2017 (14% growth) to climb past the 900-billion level.

The largest annual increase in semiconductor unit growth during the timespan shown was 34% in 1984, and the biggest decline was 19% in 2001 following the dot-com bust.  The global financial meltdown and ensuing recession caused semiconductor shipments to fall in both 2008 and 2009; the only time that the industry experienced consecutive years in which unit shipments declined.  The 25% increase in 2010 was the second-highest growth rate across the time span.

The percentage split of total semiconductor shipments is forecast to remain weighted toward O-S-D devices.  In 2018, O-S-D devices are forecast to account for 70% of total semiconductor units compared to 30% for ICs.  Thirty-eight years ago in 1980, O-S-D devices accounted for 78% of semiconductor units and ICs represented 22% (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 2

Semiconductor products forecast to have the strongest unit growth rates in 2018 are those that are essential building-block components in smartphones, automotive electronics systems, and within systems that are helping to build out of Internet of Things.  Some of the fast-growing IC unit categories for 2018 include Industrial/Other—Application-Specific Analog (26% increase); Consumer—Special Purpose Logic (22% growth); Industrial/Other—Special Purpose Logic, (22%); 32-bit MCUs (21%); Wireless Communication—Application-Specific Analog (18%); and Auto—Application-Specific Analog (17%). Among O-S-D devices, CCDs and CMOS image sensors, laser transmitters, and every type of sensor product (magnetic, acceleration and yaw, pressure, and other sensors) are expected to enjoy double-digit unit growth this year.

SiFive, the provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP, today announced the appointment of Sunil Shenoy as vice president of hardware engineering. The news follows SiFive’s momentous expansion last quarter with its strategic partnerships, launch of the first Linux-capable RISC-V core and growth of the DesignShare program.

“SiFive is leading the disruption of the semiconductor industry with effective implementation of the RISC-V instruction set architecture,” said Shenoy. “I’m thrilled to be a part of this revolution, leading the charge on a new architecture and changing the way the industry does hardware design.”

Shenoy brings more than 30 years of technology experience to SiFive, holding 16 patents in microprocessor design, and working on or leading notable projects including the Intel PentiumTM 4 generation of microprocessors, highly integrated multi-core Intel XeonTM microprocessors for datacenter and enterprise servers,and the family of massively parallel Intel Xeon PhiTM microprocessors. During his time at Intel, Shenoy led silicon development teams consisting of several thousand engineers across the world, helping to bring products successfully to market. He also drove collaborative programs with major EDA vendors. Sunil was promoted to Corporate VP at Intel in 2010. In 2013 he joined the Intel management committee reporting to the CEO.

“We’re excited to bring in Sunil to help SiFive support the growth of RISC-V and meet rising demands of the industry,” said Naveed Sherwani, SiFive CEO. “His experience in leading large processor design teams that generated multiple market-leading products will help us advance SiFive’s Core IP and processors for expanding market segments, and expand our position in the marketplace.”

Sunil has a master’s degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in business administration from University of Oregon and recently has completed extensive graduate studies in computer science.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.39 billion in billings worldwide in December 2017 (three-month average basis), according to the November Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI.  The billings figure is 16.3 percent higher than the final November 2017 level of $2.05 billion, and is 27.7 percent higher than the December 2016 billings level of $1.87 billion.

“December 2017 monthly billings for North American equipment manufacturers ended the year at the highest levels in this record-breaking year,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “For 2017, total billings for North American equipment companies soared over 40 percent compared to 2016.”

The SEMI Billings report uses three-month moving averages of worldwide billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)
Year-Over-Year
July 2017
$2,269.7
32.9%
August 2017
$2,181.8
27.7%
September 2017
$2,054.8
37.6%
October 2017
$2,019.3
23.9%
November 2017 (final)
$2,052.3
27.2%
December 2017 (prelim)
$2,387.8
27.7%

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), January 2018

SEMI publishes a monthly North American Billings report and issues the Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) report in collaboration with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). The WWSEMS report currently reports billings by 24 equipment segments and by seven end market regions. SEMI also has a long history of tracking semiconductor industry fab investments in detail on a company-by-company and fab-by-fab basis in its World Fab Forecast and SEMI FabView databases.

 

Applied Materials, Inc. today announced the appointment of Scott A. McGregor to serve on its Board of Directors.

“Scott is an outstanding leader in the global semiconductor industry and brings deep management experience as a long-serving chief executive,” said Tom Iannotti, chairman of the board of Applied Materials. “Applied is working at the foundation of major technology trends with profound implications for the way semiconductors are made, and Scott’s industry experience makes him an excellent addition to our board of directors team.”

Mr. McGregor served as president and chief executive officer and as a member of the board of directors of Broadcom Corporation from 2005 until the company was acquired by Avago Technologies Limited in 2016. He joined Broadcom from Philips Semiconductors (now NXP Semiconductors), where he was president and chief executive officer. He previously served in a range of senior management positions at Santa Cruz Operation Inc., Digital Equipment Corporation (now part of HP), Xerox PARC and Microsoft, where he was the architect and development team leader for Windows 1.0. Mr. McGregor currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Equifax Inc. He previously served as a member of the boards of directors of Ingram Micro Inc. and Xactly Corporation.

Intermolecular, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMI), the trusted partner for advanced materials innovation and SITRI, the innovation center for accelerating the development and commercialization of “More than Moore” (MtM) technologies, today announced they have expanded their strategic alliance to address the growing need for advanced new memory technologies in the China market. As part of this alliance, IMI has begun delivering critical unit films to SITRI and the two companies will work together with an end goal of producing a working memory device that their joint customers can use to drive future memories and IoT innovations forward.

There is a major need in the industry today for next-generation memory technologies that can deliver the performance, density, low power and small form factors needed for future memories and IoT devices. Current technologies face inherent limitations in meeting these requirements, making it more important to find new materials that can solve these challenges. By combining IMI’s high-throughput experimentation platform with SITRI’s expertise and strong ecosystem, the two companies can rapidly ease materials screening to enable advanced memory technologies to power the future.

“IMI has extensive experience working with memory technologies, including the thin film and stacks required to manufacture these devices,” said Chris Kramer, CEO of Intermolecular.   “This expertise, combined with SITRI’s expansive services, resources and industrial ecosystem, will be ideal for accelerating the development of an advanced memory technology.”

“We see tremendous opportunity for a new memory technology in the China market, but the process of selecting, testing and commercializing the right materials to deliver this can be costly and very time consuming,” said Charles Yang, president of SITRI. “Intermolecular already has this experience and proven methodology, which will help us greatly speed this process and provide our customers with new innovations in memory.”

With an extensive patent portfolio focused on memory technology, Intermolecular will provide SITRI with the expertise and knowledge base to produce a working memory device at a SITRI fab, which can later be transferred to their joint customers. Intermolecular will gain access to test vehicles and device capability through the use of SITRI’s MtM fab and SITRI will leverage Intermolecular’s new materials expertise in memory to perform rapid screening to optimize critical material selections.

3D-Micromac AG, a supplier of laser micromachining and roll-to-roll laser systems for the photovoltaic, medical device and electronics markets, in cooperation with the Taiwan Flat Panel Display Materials and Device Association (TDMDA) and MOS Technology, will host the 6th International Laser and Coating Symposium (ILaCoS) on February 1, 2018 in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

This year’s theme, “The Future of Display Industry”, will bring together experts in the field of laser microprocessing and display fabrication to discuss the latest scientific developments, business opportunities and future manufacturing needs for advanced displays. Distinguished speakers from the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Fraunhofer, IHS Technology and other organizations will present on a variety of topics encompassing new and emerging display technologies such as:

  • MicroLED displays
  • Organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays
  • Multifunction displays
  • Flexible displays

“Virtual and augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, and green energy initiatives in the home, office and automobile are having an enormous impact on the display market and driving the development of new display technologies,” according to Uwe Wagner, chief technology officer of 3D-Micromac. “Upcoming display technologies require new manufacturing methods. As the semiconductor, light emitting diode (LED) and display markets continue to converge, microelectronics know-how is needed to realize the next generation of displays. Taiwan is among the most important regions for display manufacturing, while Europe offers a wide range of production and machine manufacturing know-how. The ILaCoS symposium provides a forum that brings both sides together to share their expertise and foster new partnerships in the rapidly evolving display market.”

“TDMDA is anon-profit industry association whose objective is to support the formation of technical R&D alliances among the up, mid, and down-stream manufacturersto meet the new challenges of the display technologies,” stated Dr. Janglin (John) Chen, chairman of TDMDA. “With hosting ILaCoS 2018, TDMDA provides a platform of technology and business opportunity to Taiwanese display manufacturers that enables them to bring the latest process technologies to the Taiwanese market. We sincerely welcome you to join us at this event and help make it a true success.”

SEMI today announced that SEMI Europe’s Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS Europe), coming on the heels of the highly successful ISS 2018 in the U.S., will highlight STEM education and a talent pipeline, critical issues to electronics manufacturing executives sharpening their competitive edge in the global supply chain. Day two of the flagship business event – March 4-6 in Dublin, Ireland – will feature two experts focusing on how companies can “Gain, Train and Retain World-Class Talent.”

Ann-Charlotte Johannesson, CEO, CEI-Europe AB, will examine strategies to attract, retain and develop highly skilled workers in the semiconductor industry as an essential component of Europe´s global competitiveness in her presentation “Smart Training for Smarter Engineers – The Way of Ensuring the Competitive Advantage for the Global European Industry.”

Cheryl Miller, Founder/Executive Director, Digital Leadership Institute, will present an overview of education and digital skills, innovation, entrepreneurship and the workplace of the future. The Digital Leadership Institute, a Brussels-based, international NGO, is a recognised world leader in promoting greater participation of girls and women in strategic, innovative ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship & Arts powered by STEM).

“A skilled workforce is not only a keystone to the success of the global supply chain but a source of competitive advantage, making STEM education and a strong talent pipeline critical focus areas for the industry,” said Laith Altimime, president, SEMI Europe. “SEMI member companies feel the pinch, with thousands of open positions that are critical to sustaining the pace of innovation and growth. To address the talent shortfall, SEMI Europe this year launched a workforce development and diversity initiative.”

Other ISS Europe 2018 highlights include the panel discussion “Critical Strategies to Grow Europe in the Global Supply Chain,” the opening networking reception, a gala dinner, and the 2017 European Award ceremony.

Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), a developer of specialty chemicals and advanced materials solutions for the microelectronics industry, announced today that it acquired Particle Sizing Systems, LLC (PSS), a company focused on particle sizing instrumentation for liquid applications in both semiconductor and life science industries.

This acquisition reflects Entegris’ value creation strategy by leveraging its global technology platform and customer relationships. The total purchase price of the acquisition was approximately $37 million in cash, subject to customary working capital adjustments. Entegris expects this transaction to be accretive to 2018 earnings.

Digital transformation continues to create a high demand for sophisticated cloud computing infrastructures that require the most advanced logic and memory chips available. However, advanced-node manufacturers already challenged by a continuously shrinking process window and high fab costs struggle to maintain yield  and  eliminate losses  associated with CMP performance.

In advanced-node CMP applications, scratch defects are often caused by the agglomeration of slurry abrasive particles that have the potential to become a key factor in process yield performance. With the technology from PSS, Entegris is enabling customers to perform particle size analysis online and in real time, directly in the fluid stream process.  Automating the monitoring process can lead to the application of more effective solutions like proper filter selection and system maintenance. This ability to intervene with these solutions prevents costly yield excursions.

“To stay competitive, our advanced-node customers need tools that allow them to shorten process times while maintaining accuracy and consistency in order to meet the high-quality standards of the manufacturers they partner with,” says Todd Edlund, Chief Operating Officer, Entegris. “PSS technology is unique in that it measures every particle in the slurry, making it more accurate than commonly used methods that employ averaging techniques. As a result, this technology eliminates the need for manual sampling and intervention, which is less efficient and runs a higher risk of slurry excursions.”

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that the European Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) authorized the acquisition by Qualcomm River Holdings B.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, of NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI).  The acquisition has now received 8 of the 9 approvals around the world, with China remaining.

Qualcomm cooperated with the Commission and the KFTC to obtain authorization, and committed to exclude certain near-field communication (NFC) patents from the proposed transaction and ensure that NXP licenses those patents to third parties.  Qualcomm also committed not to assert the NFC patents it will acquire from NXP and maintain interoperability between Qualcomm’s baseband chipsets and NXP’s NFC chips and rivals baseband chipsets and NFC chips.  Qualcomm also will continue to offer a license to MIFARE on terms commensurate with those offered by NXP today.

“We are pleased that both the European Commission and the Korean Fair Trade Commission have granted authorization of the NXP acquisition, and we are optimistic that China will expeditiously grant its clearance” said Steve Mollenkopf, Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Acquiring NXP is complementary to Qualcomm’s global portfolio, providing tremendous scale in automotive, IoT, security and networking and will greatly accelerate our ability to execute and create value in new and adjacent opportunities.”