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The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced the addition of Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) as an SIA member. Silicon Labs President and CEO Tyson Tuttle was elected to the SIA board of directors at the association’s board meeting on Nov. 29. Silicon Labs joins several other companies that have become SIA members within the last year: Cree, NVIDIA, Xilinx, Arm, SK Hynix, and KLA-Tencor.

“Silicon Labs is a major player and leading voice in our industry, and we’re thrilled to have them in the SIA tent,” said John Neuffer, SIA President and CEO. “SIA has a 40-year history of advancing the semiconductor industry’s interests in Washington and capitals around the world. Our work to advance policies that will promote growth and innovation in our industry will be greatly strengthened by the addition of Silicon Labs as a member, and we are excited to welcome Tyson Tuttle to the SIA board.”

Tyson Tuttle has been instrumental in shaping Silicon Labs’ strategic and technological direction for more than 20 years. After becoming CEO in 2012, Tyson laid the foundation for a cultural shift to serve broad-based markets with a greater emphasis on software and tools, enabling customers to simplify IoT system design. As CEO, Tyson has transformed Silicon Labs into a leading provider of IoT connectivity solutions, with more than half of the company’s revenue stemming from the IoT. He has more than 25 years of semiconductor experience and holds more than 70 patents in RF and mixed-signal IC design. Tyson received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1989 from Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1992 from UCLA.

“Smart government policy is critical to the continued strength of the semiconductor industry, the tech sector, and the broader economy,” said Tuttle. “It is a true pleasure to represent Silicon Labs on the SIA board and to work alongside my colleagues to make meaningful progress on issues of great importance to us all.”

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced the launch of the Qualcomm Ventures AI Fund to invest up to an aggregate of $100 million in startups transforming artificial intelligence. The fund will focus on startups that share the vision of on-device AI becoming more powerful and widespread, with an emphasis on those developing new technology for autonomous cars, robotics and machine learning platforms. This fund builds on more than a decade of Qualcomm’s AI research and its heritage of developing the foundational building blocks of low power processing and connectivity, which are essential for AI.

Qualcomm has set out to make on-device AI technology ubiquitous by inventing, developing, commercializing and, importantly, investing in it. As AI shifts towards the wireless edge – combining essential on-device capabilities with the edge cloud – the industry is already starting to see the full potential of 5G. Qualcomm’s ambitious 5G vision and strategic commitment to on-device AI goes hand in hand with mobile becoming the pervasive AI platform.

“At Qualcomm, we invent breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes, and communicates,” said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. “For over a decade, Qualcomm has been investing in the future of machine learning. As a pioneer of on-device AI, we strongly believe intelligence is moving from the cloud to the edge. Qualcomm’s AI strategy couples leading 5G connectivity with our R&D, fueling AI to transform industries, business models and experiences.”

As part of the AI Fund, Qualcomm Ventures LLC participated in a Series A funding round for AnyVision, a world-leading face, body, and object recognition startup. AnyVision’s use of on-device AI minimizes the spread of data, mitigating privacy concerns. Its unique data acquisition strategy, together with its proprietary algorithms, are expected to provide immense value to customers. This investment – the first made by the AI fund – will further AnyVision’s efforts to expand into other industries and develop new AI applications that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates. The announcement was made at Qualcomm Ventures’ 5G & AI Summit in San Francisco, where influential leaders in AI convened to discuss applications of the technology in different industry verticals.

“Qualcomm Ventures is proud to invest in the future of AnyVision and many other key players in the AI industry,” said Quinn Li, senior vice president, Ventures, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and global head of Qualcomm Ventures. “This investment builds on our long history of successful AI investments, including Cruise Automation, Brain Corp., Clarifai, Prospera, SenseTime and Retail Next. Through the AI Fund, we’ll continue to seek out startups, with a focus on autonomous cars, robotics, computer vision and IoT, who are developing new AI applications, advanced machine learning technologies and AI/ML platforms across different verticals.”

The Qualcomm Ventures team has a demonstrated track record of investing in some of the top global AI startups. The AI Fund will continue to invest in those that share Qualcomm’s vision of making on-device AI ubiquitous. Qualcomm’s cutting-edge research, strong mobile footprint and leading development of 5G and AI will allow Qualcomm Ventures to serve as an ideal investor in AI startups bringing the next wave of innovation. Their success will provide significant value to many industries and billions of people.

Covalent Metrology, a provider of analytical services to advanced materials innovation companies, is pleased to announce a new partnership with Rigaku Corporation, a global leader in X-ray analytical instrumentation.

In a joint declaration, Covalent and Rigaku reveal a first-of-its-kind collaboration agreement demonstrating a mutual commitment to support American high-tech industries with the most advanced metrology capabilities in the world.

Under the terms of this agreement, Rigaku, “The world’s leading supplier of X-ray metrology technology,” will be supplying Covalent with several state-of-the-art instruments for their new facility in Sunnyvale, California. This collaboration agreement provides Covalent with exceptional analytical service capabilities and Rigaku a North American demonstration facility located in the heart of Silicon Valley.

“This partnership will significantly expand Covalent’s product offering.  Rigaku is a proven leader in this field and has earned its outstanding reputation over many decades of technology innovation.  Working together, our respective customers will benefit from being able to access the most advanced technology, staffed by world-class experts and delivered with unprecedented customer service,” said Craig Hunter, Covalent’s Founder and CEO.

The Rigaku Semiconductor Metrology Division designs and manufactures X-ray based measurement tools to solve semiconductor manufacturing challenges. With over 35 years of global market leadership in the semiconductor industry, Rigaku metrology tools employ X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray reflectometry (XRR) and Critical-Dimension Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (CD-SAXS) techniques, enabling everything from in-fab process control metrology to R&D for thin film and materials characterization.

Products include in-line, high-throughput X-ray monitoring tools for measuring critical process parameters such as film thickness, density and roughness, XRF spectrometers for thickness and composition determination, and total-reflection XRF spectrometers (TXRF) with integrated vapor phase decomposition (VPD) for trace contamination monitoring.

“We believe deeply in the power of American ingenuity, and we are focusing our investments in areas where we can have a direct impact on innovation. Rigaku is committed to advancing cutting-edge technologies that deliver solutions for yield enhancement and process development,” said Kiyoshi Ogata, Rigaku Senior Vice President. “Covalent Metrology’s experienced leadership, top-notch technical team and business model innovations altogether make them the ideal partner for our Silicon Valley Semiconductor Lab. We are proud to be a part of this collaboration and look forward to enabling new customer designs.”

Covalent Metrology provides imaging and characterization services to support R&D, defect analysis, and quality control for companies in semiconductors, solar, medical devices, MEMS and other industries.  Covalent’s analytical services include atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray XRD/XRR, high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spectral ellipsometry, optical profilometry, UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometry, TEM, XPS, TOF-SIMS and many others.

Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO, Micron Technology, 2019 SIA Chair

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced the SIA Board of Directors has elected Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), as its 2019 Chair and Keith Jackson, President, CEO, and Director of ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ON), as its 2019 Vice Chair.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Sanjay Mehrotra as SIA’s 2019 Chair and Keith Jackson as SIA’s Vice Chair,” said John Neuffer, SIA President and CEO. “A design engineer by trade, Sanjay is a highly accomplished industry veteran and a leading voice on semiconductor technology. With more than 30 years of experience, Keith is a mainstay in our industry and a devoted champion for semiconductor priorities. Their combined skills and experience will be a tremendous asset to SIA as we pursue our industry’s interests in Washington and around the world.”

A 39-year veteran of the semiconductor industry, Mehrotra joined Micron in May 2017 after a long and distinguished career at SanDisk Corporation, where he led the company from a start-up in 1988 until its eventual sale in 2016. In addition to being a SanDisk co-founder, Mehrotra served as its President and CEO from 2011 to 2016, overseeing its growth to an industry-leading Fortune 500 company.

Prior to SanDisk, Mehrotra held design engineering positions at Integrated Device Technology, Inc., SEEQ Technology, and Intel Corporation. Mehrotra earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He holds more than 70 patents and has published articles in the areas of non-volatile memory design and flash memory systems.

“The semiconductor industry is leading the greatest period of technological advancement in human history, making the seemingly impossible possible and opening up tremendous opportunities for economic growth,” said Mehrotra. “Driving innovation requires our industry to speak with one voice and promote policies that support our industry vision, and I look forward to helping lead that effort as 2019 SIA Chair.”

Jackson began serving as President, CEO, and Director of ON Semiconductor in November 2002. Before joining ON Semiconductor, he was with Fairchild, serving as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Analog, Mixed Signal, and Configurable Products Groups, and was head of its Integrated Circuits Group.

Previously, Jackson served as President and a Member of the Board of Directors of Tritech Microelectronics in Singapore and worked for National Semiconductor Corporation, most recently as Vice President and General Manager of the Analog and Mixed Signal division. He also held various positions at Texas Instruments Incorporated, including engineering and management positions, from 1973 to 1986. Mr. Jackson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University.

“It is an honor to serve as 2019 SIA Vice Chair,” Jackson said. “Many issues of great importance to the semiconductor industry are being debated in Washington and around the world. We look forward to promoting policies that advance semiconductor technology and move our industry forward.”

 

IC Insights revised its outlook for total semiconductor industry capital spending and presented its forecast of semiconductor capex spending for individual companies in its November Update to The McClean Report 2018, which was released earlier this month.

Samsung is expected to have the largest capex budget of any IC supplier again in 2018.  After spending $24.2 billion for semiconductor capex in 2017, IC Insights forecasts that Samsung’s spending will edge slightly downward, but remain at a very strong level of $22.6 billion in 2018 (Figure 1).  If it comes in at this amount, Samsung’s two-year semiconductor capital spending will be an astounding $46.8 billion.

Figure 1

As seen in Figure 1, Samsung’s semiconductor capital outlays from 2010, the first year the company spent more than $10 billion in semiconductor capex, through 2016 averaged $12.0 billion per year. However, after spending $11.3 billion in 2016, the company more than doubled its 2017 capex budget. The fact that Samsung’s continued its strong capex spending in 2018 is just as impressive.

IC Insights believes that Samsung’s massive spending outlays in 2017 and 2018 will have repercussions far into the future.  One effect that has already begun is a period of overcapacity in the 3D NAND flash market.  This overcapacity situation is due not only to Samsung’s huge spending for 3D NAND flash, but also from spending by competitors (e.g., SK Hynix, Micron, Toshiba, Intel, etc.) that attempt to keep pace in this market segment.

With the DRAM and NAND flash memory markets showing strong growth through the first three quarters of 2018, SK Hynix ramped up its capital spending this year.  In 1Q18, SK Hynix said that it intended to increase its capex spending by “at least 30%” this year. In the November Update, IC Insights forecasts that SK Hynix will see a 58% surge in its semi capex spending.  The increased spending by SK Hynix this year is focused primarily on bringing new capacity online at two of its large memory fabs—M15, a 3D NAND flash fab in Cheongju, South Korea, and the expansion of its huge DRAM fab in Wuxi, China. The Cheongju fab is being pushed to open before the end of this year.  The Wuxi fab is also targeted to open by the end of this year, a few months earlier than its original start date of early 2019.

Overall, IC Insights’ now forecasts total semiconductor industry capital spending will climb 15% to $107.1 billion this year, the first time that annual industry capex is expected to top $100.0 billion. Following the industry-wide growth this year, semiconductor capex is expected to decline 12% in 2019 (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Given that the current softness in the memory market is expected to extend into at least the first half of next year, the combined capital spending by the three largest memory suppliers—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—is forecast to drop from $45.4 billion in 2018 to $37.5 billion in 2019, a decline of 17%.

In total, the top five spenders, which are expected to represent 66% of total outlays this year, are forecast to cut their capital spending by 14% in 2019 with the remaining semiconductor industry companies registering a 7% decline.

SMiT Holdings Limited, a CAM supplier and a major mPOS supplier in China has announced that on 9 November 2018, SMiT Holdings (HK) Limited (“SMiT HK”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company completed a further USD 5 million investment by way of preferred stock purchase (the “Stock Purchase”) in Sensel, Inc. pursuant to a stock purchase agreement. Upon completion of the Stock Purchase, SMiT HK held approximately 9.22% interest in Sensel on fully diluted basis.

Simultaneously, the USD 2 million convertible promissory note issued by Sensel and previously subscribed by SMiT HK in February 2018 was deemed converted into preferred shares in Sensel at completion of the Stock Purchase, and the entire amount owed to SMiT HK under such convertible promissory note was tendered to Sensel in exchange for preferred stock pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement.

Sensel is a startup company based in the United States that is developing a next-generation touch technology. Their new touch technology, PressureGrid, can sense both high-resolution position and high-resolution force data with a single sensor. This best-in-class technology is positioned to revolutionize interfaces in consumer electronics, robotics, automotive, and medical industries. Sensel is currently working on bringing PressureGrid to market in smartphones and laptops, where they are using this technology to enable new cutting edge user interfaces and experiences.

Mr Shuai Hongyu, President of SMiT, said, “This further investment is expected to consolidate the Group’s leading position in the in the IC-based security industry. We believe that the advanced and innovative technology bought by Sensel is in line with the Group’s development and expansion strategy, and will result in significant benefits in the long term, thereby further strengthening the Group’s competitive position in the market.”

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) is making its STM32* microcontrollers (MCUs) even more attractive to developers of IoT products and other smart devices by providing free software for creating rich, smooth, and colorful graphical interfaces that deliver a great user experience.

The STM32 is the world’s most popular Arm® Cortex® MCU family, with over 800 device variants and a powerful ecosystem comprising tools, middleware, software libraries, sample code, and evaluation boards that simplify product development and accelerate time to market. Following its acquisition of Draupner Graphics, creator of the acclaimed TouchGFX graphical user-interface development suite, ST is now making the software available free of charge for production and redistribution with STM32 MCUs.

“Many customers have already successfully used TouchGFX to bring smartphone-like experiences to new products running on STM32 microcontrollers,” said Daniel Colonna, Marketing Director, Microcontrollers Division, STMicroelectronics. “By incorporating the latest version in our STM32Cube ecosystem, with no license or royalty fees, and supported by our 10-year longevity commitment, we are making this powerful and innovative solution easily accessible on a global basis.”

TouchGFX is ready to use with STM32 microcontrollers and includes a C++ framework that enables the user-interface code to occupy as little as 10KB SRAM and 20KB Flash memory. It leverages the Chrom-ART Accelerator(TM) featured in STM32 MCUs with advanced graphics capabilities and contains a rendering algorithm that minimizes the number of pixels to be updated, enabling better graphics and smoother animations on a low memory and power budget. TouchGFX supports user interfaces with color depth of 1, 2, 4, 16, or 24 bits per pixel (bpp) and can run with or without a real-time operating system (RTOS).

Also included is the TouchGFX Designer tool, which lets users quickly develop graphical interfaces by simple drag-and-drop operations and features automatic code generation as well as font, text, and image conversion.

Now fully integrated with the STM32Cube package, TouchGFX is interoperable with the STM32CubeMX configuration tool and initialization-code generator, creating a unified project environment for seamless development of the GUI and the main application. To help graphics-design projects run smoothly, ST has added new features to STM32CubeMX including an enhanced MCU Finder that helps short-list suitable microcontrollers, a graphics calculator for assessing performance, and a simulator that shows how the graphics will run on the target hardware.

Silvaco, Inc. today announced the opening of a second Christian Doppler Laboratory (CDL) in partnership with the Institute for Microelectronics, TU Wien. The new CDL, officially opened November 12th will develop new device simulation solutions for MRAM, a novel non-volatile memory technology.

“The fact that memory components are constantly becoming smaller and smaller is driven by the constant need for devices with lower power and higher capacity,” said Dr. Siegfried Selberherr, Professor at the Institute for Microelectronics, TU Wien. “Conventional technologies are now reaching the limits of miniaturization and new technologies are being developed to replace them. The new CD lab will make an important contribution by exploring the foundations of possible memory alternatives and harnessing this new knowledge to the advantage of semiconductor businesses and their customers.”

Magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) is a non-volatile memory technology with the potential to become a dominant alternative to DRAM and SRAM, and the future possibility to become a universal memory for digital devices. MRAM has the operation speed close to SRAM while using lower power and less area for an equivalent memory density. This characteristic makes MRAM suitable for a large number of applications, such as automotive and industrial where both performance and non-volatile memory are required.

“New digital device technologies will enable the next generation of smart components for consumer and industrial applications,” said Dr. Viktor Sverdlov from the Institute for Microelectronics, TU Wien, and who heads the new Christian Doppler Laboratory. “MRAM has the potential to deliver both more memory density and much lower power consumption extending memory beyond the current solutions. TCAD device simulation of this new device technology is an essential step in making this change possible for the industry.”

“TCAD simulation always plays a significant role launching, supporting and optimizing new technologies and this is also true for novel memories such as MRAM,” said Dr. Eric Guichard, VP and GM of the TCAD Division at Silvaco. “Silvaco has a long history pioneering new technologies and this new CDL is the latest addition to Silvaco’s TCAD development which is also progressing on high speed TCAD, atomistic simulation for advanced logic and cryogenic simulation for supercomputing. We are pleased to undertake this second technology partnership with the Institute for Microelectronics, TU Wien, and together we will continue to deliver research at the leading edge of semiconductor design.”

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890), a global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that it has expanded its patent infringement litigation against Fry’s Electronics, Inc. (“Fry’s”), a big-box consumer electronics retailer, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

In its amended complaint, Seoul asserts that top brand televisions being sold in Fry’s stores infringe 19 patents covering backlight lenses, backlight modules, LED chips, LED packages, and phosphors, as well as WICOP technology that enables LED chips to be directly soldered onto printed circuit boards (PCB). Seoul’s patent infringement lawsuit against Fry’s was originally filed on August 31, 2018.

Seoul’s backlight lens patents relate to a new concept of lens technology for manufacturing thin and light televisions. This patented technology was developed jointly with leading optical expert, Dr. David Pelka, and included substantial research and development investments by Seoul in optical lenses. As a result of its hard work and investments, Seoul has approximately 160 related patents in this area.

Seoul’s backlight module patent enables significant improvement of the color gamut of LCD displays by using KSF phosphors.  The related technology has been co-developed with  Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation for many years. This technology has been widely incorporated in most mobile phones and increasingly applied in LCD TVs as well.

Seoul’s WICOP (Wafer Incorporated Chip on PCB) patents enable LED chips to be soldered to a PCB without an LED package – the world’s first developed revolutionary technology for semiconductor structures. Other companies may be attempting to imitate Seoul’s patented technology, describing it as a CSP (Chip Size Package) requiring a sub-mount between a PCB and an LED. Protecting its patented technology has led Seoul to expand its infringement claims in the Fry’s ligation.

In order to safeguard its LED backlight technology and other protected inventions, Seoul has actively enforced its patent rights and sent cease-and-desist letters against suspected infringers. As a result of such enforcement efforts, the United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on November 19, 2018 that one of Seoul’s competitors willfully infringed Seoul’s LED lens and backlight module patents. The appellate court also found that that Korean LED package company Lumens Co., Ltd supplied television makers with LED backlight bars incorporating infringing products.

“We hope that our commitment for technology innovation would inspire young entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Sam Ryu, Seoul’s vice president of IT Business. “Protecting that technology against infringement is a cornerstone of our business and sends an important message to the market and other innovators who would follow in Seoul’s footsteps – that hard work and innovation will be respected.”

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions, today announced that volume production has commenced for an IGBT product for power module targeted to high-voltage industrial applications. IGBT is one of a MagnaChip family of Power standard products called Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors.

The new IGBT P-series (“MBW100T120PHF”) has both high current and high voltage capabilities of 1200V and 100A, and has achieved a low saturation voltage Vce(sat) of 1.71V and low switching losses by using Field-Stop Trench technology. MBW100T120PHF allows designers to operate devices at an improved switching frequency, which enables reducing the size and cost of capacitors and inductive devices in circuits.

To product designers, this translates into high power density, small size and low material cost of products. MBW100T120PHF is operable up to four times the rated current, and with a wide SOA (Safe Operating Area) well-suited for industrial applications which require high power. In addition, by optimizing the resistance embedded inside the chip, MBW100T120PHF enables a parallel structure design, which allows multiple chips to operate simultaneously.

MBW100T120PHF is expected to improve overall system stability and energy efficiency of applications by reducing the power loss from DC-AC power conversions for high-voltage industrial applications, such as 10kW+ 3-phase motor and photovoltaic inverter systems.

“We are pleased to launch our newest IGBT P-series product for industrial power modules, with high-voltage and high-current capabilities of 1200V and 100A,” said YJ Kim, CEO of MagnaChip. “The introduction of this IGBT P-series product will further expand our IGBT power product portfolio and enhance our reputations as a market leader of high-voltage power standard products.”