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Global semiconductor industry revenue declined 3.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018 falling to $115.8 billion. Semiconductor industry performance was negatively affected by the declining sales and first-quarter seasonality in the wireless communications market. Other sectors, such as automotive and consumer semiconductors, experienced nominal market growth, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

The memory category experienced the highest growth of 1.7 percent in the first quarter, reaching $39.7 billion, as demand for memory components increased in the enterprise and storage markets. In fact, DRAM pricing and shipments both increased during the quarter, as strong demand for server DRAM continued to propel the semiconductor market. However, NAND began to show signs of softening, with slight revenue declines during the quarter, mainly due to single-digit price declines. “Even with the slight revenue decline during the quarter, the NAND market still achieved its second-highest revenue quarter on record, with strong demand coming from the enterprise and client solid-state drive markets,” said Craig Stice, senior director, memory and storage, IHS Markit.

Semiconductor market share

Led by its dominant position in the memory market, Samsung Electronics led the semiconductor industry in the first quarter of 2018, with 16.1 percent of the market, followed by Intel at 13.6 percent and SK Hynix at 7.0 percent. Quarter-over-quarter market shares were relatively flat, with no change in the top-three ranking list. However, on a year-over-year basis, Samsung supplanted Intel as the leading semiconductor company, compared to the first quarter of 2017.

Analog component sales for Texas Instruments, Maxim Integrated, ON Semiconductor and other companies with a strategic focus on industrial and automotive industries managed single-digit sales increases in the first quarter. In contrast, analog component revenue declined by double digits for Qualcomm, Skyworks Solutions, Oorvo and other companies targeting the wireless industry.

Memory IC companies — Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron Technologies and Toshiba — continued to dominate the top ten semiconductor companies. Micron achieved the highest growth rate in the top ten, recording 9.8 percent growth in the first quarter, compared to the previous quarter. Qualcomm revenue fell 13.6 percent, which was the largest sequential drop, due to the weakness in the wireless communication market. Qualcomm and nVidia were the only two fabless companies remaining in the top ten.

By Paula Doe, SEMI

For medtech applications to flourish, sensors need a supporting infrastructure that translates the data they harvest into actionable insights, says Qualcomm Life director of business development Gene Dantsker, who will speak about the future of digital healthcare in the Medtech program at SEMICON West. “Rarely can one device give a complete diagnosis,” he notes. “What’s missing is the integration of all the sensor data into prescriptive information.”

The maturing medtech sector has developed to the point where sensors can now capture massive amounts of data, conveniently collected from people via mobile devices. The sector now has higher compute capacity to process the data, and improving software can produce actionable insight from the information. The next challenge is to seamlessly integrate these components into legacy medical systems without disrupting existing workflow. “Doctors and nurses don’t have time for disruptive technology – a new system has to be invisible and frictionless to use, with one or fewer buttons, no training and truly automatic Bluetooth-like pairing,” he says. “So device makers need to pack all system intelligence into the circuits and software.”

Getting actionable healthcare information from sensors requires integration into the existing medical infrastructure. Source: Qualcomm Life

One interesting example is United Healthcare’s use of the Qualcomm Life infrastructure to collect data from the fitness trackers of 350,000 patients. The insurance company then pays users $4 a day, or ~$1500 a year, for standing, walking six times a day and other behaviors that clinical evidence shows will both improve patient health and reduce healthcare costs. “It’s a perfect storm of motivations for all stakeholders,” he says.

Next hot MEMS topics: Piezoelectric devices, environmental sensors, near-zero power standby

With sensor technology continuing to evolve, look for coming innovations in MEMS in piezoelectric devices, environmental sensors and near zero-power standby devices, says Alissa Fitzgerald, Founder and Managing Member of A.M. Fitzgerald and Associates, who will provide an update on emerging sensor technologies in the MEMS program at SEMICON West.

Piezoelectric devices can potentially be more stable and perhaps even easier to ramp to volume than capacitive ones, with AlN devices for microphones and ultrasonic sensors finding quick success. Now the maturing infrastructure for lead zirconate titantate (PZT) is enabling the scaling of production of higher performing piezo material with thin film deposition equipment from suppliers like Ulvac Technologies and Solmates and in foundry processes at Silex and STMicroelectronics, she notes.

In academic research, where most new MEMS emerge, market interest is driving development of environmental sensors and zero-power standby devices. With demand for environmental monitoring growing, much work is focusing on technologies that improve the sensitivity, selectivity and time of response of gas and particulate sensors. Research and funding is also focusing on zero or near-zero power standby sensors, using open circuits that draw no power until a physical stimulus such as vibration or heat wakes them up.

MEMS, however, likely won’t find as much of a market in autonomous vehicles as once thought. “While the automotive sensor market will need many optical sensors, MEMS players are competing with other optical and mechanical solutions,” says Fitzgerald. “And here the usual MEMS advantage of small size may not matter much, and the devices will have to meet the challenging automotive requirements for extreme ruggedness.”

By Paula Doe, SEMI

New metrology and inspection technologies and new analysis approaches made possible by improving compute technology offer solutions to finding the increasingly subtle variations in materials and subsystems that meet specifications but still cause defects on the wafer. More collaboration across the supply chain is helping too.  SEMICON West programs on materials and subsystems will address these issues.

New metrology approaches needed to deal with process margin challenges

As device process margins shrink and subtler materials variations cause unwanted variations,  the need for better monitoring of both surface and sub-surface material variations is driving a trend towards “metro-spection” – the convergence of metrology and inspection. “Device process margins have eroded to the point that traditional metrology strategies and techniques are no longer viable for controlling yield and parametric performance,” says Nanometrics Vice President Robert Fiordalice, who will speak in the materials program at SEMICON West. “Limited sampling capability, low throughput, insufficient sensitivity or the destructive nature of the techniques can often become problems. What’s more, deviations in material characteristics are not always determined by the initial quality of the material, but often arise from variations during the integration of the materials.”

“Device process margins have eroded to the point that traditional metrology strategies and techniques are no longer viable for controlling yield and parametric performance.” – Robert Fiordalice, Nanometrics

One new type of inline tool or line monitoring technology is Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, traditionally used in quality control or tool characterization. Better sensitivity and higher throughput now enable rapid analysis and feedback for on-the-fly detection of subtle deviations in film properties that may compromise device performance or yield.

More advanced analytics will help extract new information from old metrology

More expensive metrology may not be required to identify subtle variations in in-spec materials that cause wafer defects. Today’s advanced compute capabilities now enable more sophisticated analysis of existing data and the identification of small but significant variations in raw materials and finished goods.

The figure of merit (FoM) values presented in certificate of analysis (CoA) reports miss subtle variations in raw material properties. Of particular note is the reduction of molecular weight distributions to a mean, and standard deviation, whereas variations in the tails are associated with pattern defects. Advanced compute capabilities now allow the industry to step beyond the FoM in favor of more holistic measures, enabling predictive analysis of resist chemical variations associated with specific pattern defects. Source: JSR Micro

“We often don’t need to find a new measure, but just a new way of looking at what we measure now,” says Jim Mulready, vice president of global quality assurance at JSR Micro. Mulready will speak in the SEMICON West program on materials defectivity issues. “The certificate of analysis reduces multiple measurements to a single figure of merit. But if we ignore all that raw data, we miss a chance to learn.  One of our sayings in quality is ‘Customers don’t feel the average, they feel the variation.’ In many electronic materials, the quality of the raw material can have a big impact on the final performance, but the types of analysis needed to look at the tails of the distribution of these measures (such as molecular weight) in detail used to be really hard to do. Now it’s becoming increasingly straightforward and affordable.”

 “We often don’t need to find a new measure, but just a new way looking at what we measure now.” – Jim Mulready, JSR Micro

Mulready says tools now available in the data processing sector enable the identification of subtle variations in materials that can cause defects on the wafer. These tools use methods like detailed subtractions of chromatography curves of polymer raw materials or analysis of tails of distributions of molecular weights. “Our job now is to drive these kinds of more sophisticated data analysis back into our chemical supply chain as well,” says Mulready. “We must work more closely with our suppliers to integrate their raw materials into our products. The reason the JSRs of the world exist is as a safety valve to reduce the variation from the chemical industry before it gets to the fab.”

Continued collaboration with equipment suppliers required as well

While the industry has been talking about the need for tighter collaboration between materials suppliers and equipment manufacturers for years, it still doesn’t always happen. “The material supplier and the equipment maker are tied together like kids in a three-legged race when we deliver an integrated system for consistent on-wafer performance,” says Cristina Chu, TEL/NEXX director of strategic business development, another speaker in the materials program.  “When we introduce changes to the tool hardware, we need to make sure it doesn’t upset the system. Similarly, we need the material supplier to send a bottle over when a new chemistry formulation is under development. If a new chemistry runs into problems in the field, it will take much more time for both of us to fix it at the customer site. The toolmaker can provide a slightly different perspective on applications, while being more objective than a customer on how the formulation performs compared to earlier versions.”

“The material supplier and the equipment maker are tied together like kids in a three-legged race when we deliver an integrated system for consistent on-wafer performance.” – Cristina Chu, TEL/NEXX

Regular and ongoing collaboration between chemistry suppliers and toolmakers enables the highest quality system solution to reach the customer. Chu notes that her team tries to maintain consistent collaborations with material suppliers across changes in organizations as the business environment changes. “For consistent on-wafer capabilities, we need a consistent collaboration process with chemistry suppliers. We need to meet with materials providers at a regular cadence throughout their development process. We need to check back with them as we scale up results from the coupon to the wafer level and to work out the kinks in the integrated solution together. The quality and consistency of our combined performance at the customer depends on ensuring the quality and consistency of our development and evaluation process as well.”

Fabs and subsystems suppliers look to pilot data sharing program to improve process margins

With ever tighter process margins, subtle variations in parameters that don’t appear in the specifications are also compromising results on the wafer, and neither the fab nor the supplier alone has the full information needed to improve performance. To help, a SEMI standards group is developing a protocol for a pilot program to standardize and automate some data sharing.

“In order for engineers to have constructive conversations about how to improve performance, we all need to exchange more information.” – Eric Bruce, Samsung Austin

The fab knows that performance is best with a particular parameter value, and knows when performance fluctuates,  but often faces a black box problem with no way of knowing what exactly is wrong. In the rush to get the tool back up, the fab engineers may not get around to emailing the supplier about the issue for some time. The subsystems supplier, on the other hand, may know the cause of the variation,  but likely has no way of knowing the critical parameters or ideal target valuesfor the fab’s process..  “In order for engineers to have constructive conversations about how to improve performance, we all need to exchange more information,” says Eric Bruce, Samsung Austin diffusion engineer, and co-chair of the SEMI standards effort working on the issue, who will speak in the subsystems program at SEMICON West.

A potential solution could be to create a standard and automated process to share particular data, agreed to in the purchasing contract, whereby the subsystems supplier shares more information about their parameters with the fab, and the fab in return gives feedback on what parameters work best to drive improved performance. The best place to start will likely be on parts that do not contain core yield-related IP, but where usage and lifetime information is useful.

“We’re looking for people to participate in a pilot program to work together with suppliers to try sharing some information to improve performance,” says Bruce. “There’s a lot of this sharing in the backroom anyway, but this could make it fast and automated, and make everyone’s engineering job a lot easier.”

By Paula Doe, SEMI

With artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly evolving, look for applications like voice recognition and image recognition to get more efficient, more affordable, and far more common in a variety of products over the next few years. This growth in applications will drive demand for new architectures that deliver the higher performance and lower power consumption required for widespread AI adoption.

“The challenge for AI at the edge is to optimize the whole system-on-a-chip architecture and its components, all the way to semiconductor technology IP blocks, to process complex AI workloads quickly and at low power,” says Qualcomm Technologies Senior Director of Engineering Evgeni Gousev, who will provide an update on the progress of AI at the edge in a Data and AI program at SEMICON West, July 10-12 in San Francisco.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 uses heterogeneous computing across the CPU, GPU, and DSP for power-efficient processing for constantly evolving AI models. Source: Qualcomm

A system approach that optimizes across hardware, software, and algorithms is necessary to deliver the ultra-low power – to a sub 1-milliwatt level, low enough to enable always-on machine vision processing – for the usually energy-intensive AI computing. From the chip architecture perspective, processing AI workloads with the most appropriate engine, such as the CPU, GPU, and DSP with dedicated hardware acceleration, provides the best power efficiency – and flexibility for dealing with rapidly changing AI models and growing diversity of applications.

“But we’re going to run out of brute force options, so the future opportunity is more innovations with new architectures, dedicated hardware, new algorithms, and new software.” – Evgeni Gousev, Qualcomm Technologies

“So far it’s been largely a brute force approach using conventional architectures and cloud-based infrastructure,” says Evgeni. “But we’re going to run out of brute force options, so future opportunities lie in developing innovative architectures, dedicated hardware, new algorithms, and new software. Innovation will be especially important for AI at the edge and applications requiring always-on functionality. Training is mostly in the cloud now, but in the near future it will start migrating to the device as the algorithms and hardware improve. AI at the edge will also  remove some privacy concerns,  an increasingly important issue for data collection and management.”

Practical AI applications at the edge where resources are constrained run the gamut, spanning smartphones, drones, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, augmented reality and smart home solutions such as connected cameras. “More AI on the edge will create a huge opportunity for the whole ecosystem – chip designers, semiconductor and device manufacturers, applications developers, and data and service providers. And it’s going to make a significant impact on the way we work, live, and interact with the world around us,” Evgeni said.

Future generations of chips may need more disruptive systems-level change to handle high data volumes with low power

A next-generation solution for handling the massive proliferation of AI data could be a nanotechnology system, such as the collaborative N3XT (Nano-Engineered Computing Systems Technology) project, led by H.S. Philip Wong and Subhasish Mitra at Stanford. “Even with next-generation scaling of transistors and new memory chips, the bottlenecks in moving data in and out of memory for processing will remain,” says Mitra, another speaker in the SEMICON West program. “The true benefits of nanotechnology will only come from new architectures enabled by nanosystems. One thing we are certain of is that massively more capable and more energy-efficient systems will be necessary for almost any future application, so we will need to think about system-level improvements.”

Major improvement in handling high volumes of data with low high energy use will require system-level improvements, such as monolithic 3D integration of carbon nanotube transistors in the multi-campus N3XT chip research effort. Source: Stanford University

That means carbon nanotube transistors for logic, high density non-volatile MRAM and ReRAM for memory, fine-grained monolithic 3D for integration, new architectures for computation immersed in memory, and new materials for heat removal. “The N3XT approach is key for the 1000X energy efficiency needed,” says Mitra.

“One thing we are certain of is that massively more capable and more energy efficient systems will be necessary for almost any future application, so we will need to think about system-level improvements.” – Subhasish Mitra, Stanford University

Researchers have demonstrated improvements in all these areas, including multiple hardware nanosystem prototypes targeting AI applications. The researchers have transferred multiple layers of as-grown carbon nanotubes to the target wafer to significantly improve CNT density. They have developed a low-power TiN/HfOx/Pt ReRAM whose low-temperature CNT and ReRAM processes enable multiple vertical layers to be grown on top of one another for ultra-dense and fine-grained monolithic 3D integration.

Other speakers at the Data and AI TechXpot include Fram Akiki, VP Electronics, Siemens; Hariharan Ananthanarayanan, motion planning engineer, Osaro; and David Haynes, Sr. director, strategic marketing, Lam Research.  See SEMICONWest.org.

Each year at SEMICON West, the “Best of West” awards are presented by Solid State Technology and SEMI. More than 26,000 professionals from the electronics manufacturing supply chain attend SEMICON West and the co-located Intersolar. The “Best of West” award was established to recognize new products moving the industry forward with technological developments in the electronics supply chain.

Selected from over 600 exhibitors, SEMI announced today that the following Best of West 2018 Finalists will be displaying their products on the show floor at Moscone Center from July 10-12:

  • Advantest: T5503HS2 Memory Tester— The T5503HS2 memory tester is the industry’s most productive test solution for the fastest memory devices available today as well as next-generation, super-high-speed DRAMs.  The new system’s flexibility extends the capabilities of the T5503 product family in the current “super cycle,” in which global demand for memories is skyrocketing. (South Hall Booth #1105)
  • BISTel: Dynamic Fault Detection (DFD®) – The DFD system offers full trace data coverage and eliminating the need for timely and costly modeling and set up. DFD® is also a bridge to smart factory manufacturing because it integrates seamlessly to legacy FDC systems meaning customers can access the most comprehensive, and accurate fault detection system on the market. (South Hall Booth 1811)
  • Rudolph Technologies: Dragonfly System with Truebump Technology– Rudolph’s Dragonfly System with Truebump Technology was designed to provide a complete solution for “total bump process control.” Using a unique approach, Truebump Technology combines 2D inspection and measurement information from image-based techniques with 3D data from separate high-precision and high-throughput laser-based techniques to deliver accurate and complete characterization at production-capable throughputs. (North Hall Booth #6170)

Congratulations to each of the Finalists. The Best of West Award winner will be announced during SEMICON West (www.semiconwest.org) on Wednesday, July 11, 2018.

About SEMI

SEMI® connects over 2,000 member companies and 1.3 million professionals worldwide to advance the technology and business of electronics manufacturing. SEMI members are responsible for the innovations in materials, design, equipment, software, devices, and services that enable smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. FlexTech, the Fab Owners Alliance (FOA) and the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) are SEMI Strategic Association Partners, defined communities within SEMI focused on specific technologies. Since 1970, SEMI has built connections that have helped its members prosper, create new markets, and address common industry challenges together. SEMI maintains offices in Bangalore, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley (Milpitas, Calif.), Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.  For more information, visit www.semi.org and follow SEMI on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Extension Media

Extension Media is a publisher of over 20 business-to-business magazines (including Solid State Technology), resource catalogs, newsletters and web sites that address high-technology industry platforms and emerging technologies such as chip design, embedded systems, software and infrastructure, intellectual property, architectures, operating systems and industry standards. Extension Media publications serve several markets including Electronics, Software/IT and Mobile/Wireless. Extension Media is a privately held company based in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, visit www.extensionmedia.com

IC Insights will release its 200+ page Mid-Year Update to the 2018 McClean Report next month.  The Mid-Year Update will revise IC Insights’ worldwide economic and IC industry forecasts through 2022 that were originally presented in the 2018 McClean Report issued in January of this year.

Figure 1 shows that IC Insights forecasts that China-headquartered companies will spend $11.0 billion in semiconductor industry capex in 2018, which would represent 10.6% of the expected worldwide outlays of $103.5 billion.  Not only would this amount be 5x what the Chinese companies spent only three years earlier in 2015, but it would also exceed the combined semiconductor industry capital spending of Japan- and Europe-headquartered companies this year.

Since adopting the fab-lite business model, the three major European producers have represented a very small share of total semiconductor industry capital expenditures and are forecast to account for only 4% of global spending in 2018 after representing 8% of worldwide capex in 2005.  Although there may be an occasional spike in capital spending from European companies (e.g., the surge in spending from ST and AMS in 2017), IC Insights believes that Europe-headquartered companies will represent only 3% of worldwide semiconductor capital expenditures in 2022.

It should be noted that several Japanese semiconductor companies have also transitioned to a fab-lite business model (e.g., Renesas, Sony, etc.).  With strong competition reducing the number and strength of Japanese semiconductor manufacturers, the loss of its vertically integrated businesses and thus missing out on supplying devices for several high-volume end-use applications, and its collective shift toward fab-lite business models, Japanese companies have greatly reduced their investment in new wafer fabs and equipment.  In fact, Japanese companies are forecast to represent only 6% of total semiconductor industry capital expenditures in 2018, a big decline from the 22% share they held in 2005 and an even more precipitous drop from the 51% share they held in 1990.

Figure 1

Although China-headquartered pure-play foundry SMIC has been part of the list of major semiconductor industry capital spenders for quite some time, there are four additional Chinese companies that are forecast to become significant semiconductor industry spenders this year and next—memory suppliers XMC/YMTC, Innotron, JHICC, and pure-play foundry Shanghai Huali.  Each of these companies is expected to spend a considerable amount of money equipping and ramping up their new fabs in 2018 and 2019.

Due to the increased spending by startup China-based memory manufacturers, IC Insights believes that the Asia-Pac/Others share of semiconductor industry capital spending will remain over 60% for at least the next couple of years.

Technavio analysts forecast the global LED market to post a CAGR of more than 16% during the forecast period, according to their latest market research report.

The growing number of households and urbanization is one of the major trends being witnessed in the global LED market. The increase in urbanization is driving the installation of new lamps and LED luminaires which in turn, will lead to an increase in unit shipments and thereby revenue from LED products. In addition, rapid urbanization is driving governments of various countries to invest in large-scale urban infrastructure projects.

According to Technavio analysts, one of the key factors contributing to the growth of the global LED market is the declining manufacturing cost of LEDs:

Global LED market: Declining manufacturing cost of LEDs

The manufacturing cost of LEDs has declined since 2012 and will continue to do so during the forecast period primarily because of the declining ASP of chips and components used in the manufacturing process. This is leading to a decrease in the installation costs of LED lamps and fixtures thereby driving the installation of new LED lamps and fixtures across all application segments.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for research on semiconductor equipment, “Megacities concentrate on investing in infrastructure development to meet the needs of the growing population. These megacities consume a large amount energy due to which governments of these countries are planning to install energy-efficient lighting sources such as LED lamps and luminaires to reduce electricity consumption. This will lead to the growth of the LED market.”

Global LED market: Segmentation and analysis

This global LED market research report provides market segmentation by application (general lighting and backlighting, automotive lighting and others), and by region (the Americas, EMEA, and APAC). It provides an in-depth analysis of the prominent factors influencing the market, including drivers, opportunities, trends, and industry-specific challenges.

The high demand for energy-efficient lighting solutions in the general lighting market is expected to fuel the demand for LED products. This segment is expected to increase its market share by close to 29% over the forecast period, while the backlighting segment is expected to see a significant decrease in its market share.

APAC held the largest share of the market in 2017, accounting for close to 47%, followed by the Americas and EMEA respectively. APAC and the Americas are expected to witness a significant increase in their market shares while EMEA will see a commensurate decrease in its market share over the forecast period.

 

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU) today announced volume production on its 8Gb GDDR6 memory. Built on experience and execution for several generations of GDDR memory, GDDR6 – Micron’s fastest and most powerful graphics memory designed in Micron’s Munich Development Center – is optimized for a variety of applications that require high performance memory, including artificial intelligence (AI), networking, automotive and graphics processing units (GPUs). Additionally, Micron has worked with core ecosystem partners to ramp GDDR6 documentation and interoperability, enabling faster time to market for designs.

“Micron is a pioneer in developing advanced high bandwidth memory solutions and continues that leadership with GDDR6. Micron demonstrated this leadership by recently achieving throughput up to 20 Gb/s on our GDDR6 solutions,” said Andreas Schlapka, director, Compute Networking Business Unit, Micron. “In addition to performance increases, Micron has developed a deep partner ecosystem to enable rapid creation of GDDR6 designs, enabling faster time to market for customers looking to leverage this powerful new memory technology.”

The need for high performance GDDR6 memory has grown as end-users demand advanced applications. GDDR6 enables advanced performance with lower power consumption in a number of segments including:

  • Artificial Intelligence – Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning are memory intensive applications that require more bandwidth from memory solutions. GDDR6 delivers the higher bandwidth required to accelerate AI in applications like computer vision, autonomous driving and the many other applications that require this higher bandwidth.
  • Graphics – Enabling significant performance improvements for today’s top GPUs, GDDR6 delivers enhanced graphic memory speeds to enable higher application bandwidth. Micron GDDR6 will be a core enabling technology of advanced GPU applications, including acceleration, 4K video and improved rendering, VR/AR and crypto mining applications.
  • Networking – Advanced networking technologies require access to high speed/high bandwidth memory. GDDR6-powered smart Network Interface Cards (NIC) enable significant improvements in network bandwidth. Additionally, high bandwidth RAID controllers featuring GDDR6 memory deliver dramatic enhancements to data access and protection.
  • Automotive – As auto manufacturers push for autonomous vehicles, high performance memory is required to process the vast amounts of real-time data required to make this technology a reality. Micron GDDR6 delivers 448 GB/s auto qualified memory solutions, that deliver more than double the bandwidth of LPDDR5 automotive memory solutions.

“As demand for advanced automotive applications such as ADAS and other autonomous driving solutions grows, the need for high bandwidth memory in automotive will grow as well. Advanced high bandwidth GDDR6 memory solutions are a key enabling technology for autonomous vehicles and will be an important tool for the automotive industry as they develop next generation transportation initiatives,” said Kris Baxter, vice president, Marketing, Micron’s Embedded Business Unit.

Targeting up to 64GB/s in one package, GDDR6 brings a significant improvement over the fastest available GDDR5. This unprecedented level of single-chip performance, using proven, industry-standard BGA packaging provides designers a powerful, cost-efficient and low-risk solution using the most scalable, high-speed discrete memory available to the market.

In order to deliver this leading edge high bandwidth memory technology to customers, Micron is working directly with ecosystem partners in order to enable learning on both pre-silicon verification as well as validation. Prior to mass production of GDDR6 memory, Micron shipped early validation silicon to our ecosystem partners to accelerate engineering efforts behind validating intellectual property and build robust models and toolsets in the ecosystem and deliver board layout validation. This ensures that engineers are able to implement GDDR6 in designs at a faster rate and bring bandwidth intensive applications to the marketplace. These ecosystem partners include Rambus and more.

“With nearly 30 years’ experience in implementing designs for high-speed interfaces, Rambus is the first IP provider to launch a comprehensive GDDR6 PHY solution for next-generation AI, ADAS, networking and graphics applications and continues to be at the leading edge of implementing industry standards. We are proud to work with Micron and other ecosystem partners to help customers accelerate time to market for GDDR6 designs and deliver the most advanced solutions based on GDDR6 memory,” said Frank Ferro, senior director of product marketing, Rambus.

Micron GDDR6 memory solutions will be on display in booth B-1340 at ISC 2018, June 24-28, in Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, visit www.micron.com.

IC Insights recently released its Update to its 2018 IC Market Drivers Report.  The Update includes IC Insights’ latest outlooks on the smartphone, automotive, PC/tablet and Internet of Things (IoT) markets.

The Update shows a final 2017 ranking of the top smartphone leaders in terms of unit shipments.  As shown in Figure 1, 9 of the top 12 smartphone suppliers were headquartered in China.  Two South Korean companies (Samsung and LG) and one U.S. supplier (Apple) were the other leaders.

Figure 1

Samsung and Apple dominated the smartphone market from 2015 through 2017.  In total, these two companies shipped 526 million smartphones and held a combined 35% share of the total smartphone market in 2016. Moreover, these two companies shipped over one-half billion smartphones (533 million) in 2017 with their combined smartphone unit marketshare increasing one point to 36%.

Samsung’s total smartphone unit sales were up by 2% in 2017 to 317 million units, slightly outpacing the total smartphone market that grew by 1%.  Meanwhile, orders for new Apple iPhones fell 7% in 2016, much worse than the 4% growth rate exhibited for the worldwide smartphone market.  However, Apple rebounded somewhat in 2017 with its total smartphone unit shipments being flat last year.

It appears that the up-and-coming Chinese producers like Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi are giving a serious challenge to Samsung and Apple for smartphone marketshare.  It should be noted, however, that Samsung and Apple still hold a commanding share of the high-end smartphone segment—that is, smartphones priced more than $200.

The number four and five ranked smartphone suppliers on the list are owned by the same China-based parent company—BBK Electronics.  Combined handset unit shipments from these two companies were 213.1 million in 2017, just 2.7 million less than second-ranked Apple.

Overall, there was very little middle ground with regard to smartphone shipment growth rates among the top 12 suppliers in 2017.  As shown, four of the top 12 companies registered double-digit unit growth while the other eight companies logged 2% or less increases and four of those displayed a double-digit decline.  Three Chinese smartphone suppliers (Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo) saw their shipments surge at least 24% in 2017.  Xiaomi displayed the highest growth rate of any of the top-12 smartphone suppliers (73%). Meanwhile, another three Chinese suppliers (LeEco/Coolpad, ZTE, and TCL) saw their smartphone shipments fall by more than 20% last year.

Combined, the nine leading smartphone suppliers based in China shipped 626 million smartphones in 2017, an 11% increase from 565 million smartphones that these nine companies shipped in 2016. The top nine Chinese smartphone suppliers together held a 42% share of the worldwide smartphone market in 2017, up four points from the 38% share these companies held in 2016 and eight points better than the 34% combined share these companies held in 2015.

IC Insights projects smartphone shipments in 2018 will rise 2%, to 1.53 billion units.  Moreover, smartphone unit shipments are forecast to grow at low single-digit annual rates through 2021.

The semiconductor industry posted record results in 2017, with revenue exceeding US$400 billion. Overall demand for semiconductor devices was robust throughout the year, driven by the growing adoption of electronics components across all applications, with particular strength in the mobile and data center markets. Semiconductor growth in 2017 was led by the memory segment, with impressive revenue reaching US$126 billion. It represents an increase of over 60% year-over-year. Yole Développement (Yole) Memory Team forecasts the memory market to reach US$177 billion in 2018, with 40% growth.

Under this dynamic ecosystem, Yole and its partners System Plus Consulting and Knowmade, all parts of Yole Group of Companies, deeply scan the memory area. They propose today valuable memory services to deliver world class research, data and insight. Their aim is to ensure its clients are well-versed in all aspects of this competitive industry. Yole Group of Companies leverage decades of industry experience and expertise while partnering with its clients to make sure they are consistently well-informed on this pushy market.

Today two memory research services, DRAM Service and NAND Service have been developed by Yole Group of Companies. Full description of both services are available in a new dedicated Memory section on i-micronews.com. In addition, a selection of technology & market news are daily selected by Yole’s memory team and posted in this section.

Make sure to collect deep insights and significant analyses from leading industry experts, combining over 50-year experience in memory and semiconductor-related fields.

Both DRAM and NAND markets were in a state of undersupply throughout the year, leading to rising prices and record revenue and profitability for the memory suppliers. Demand was very strong, led by mobile and data center / SSD and augmented by emerging growth drivers including AI , IoT and automotive. Supply growth across both DRAM and NAND was constrained, due to a combination of limited wafer growth and technological challenges.

The current macro trends of AI and machine learning, mobility, and connectivity, are favorable to both the DRAM and NAND markets, and will likely result in Memory continuing to increase its share of the overall the semiconductor market.

“Understanding memory supply/demand dynamics and its relationship with pricing is vital to understanding the broader semiconductor market and all associated supply chains”, asserts Emilie Jolivet, Division Director, Semiconductor & Software at Yole.

The DRAM market is constantly evolving and changing. Yole Group is announcing a 22% CAGR for bit demand over the next five years.

“New Chinese suppliers threaten the current market balance, and emerging memory technologies are poised to cannibalize huge chunks of DRAM demand while the demand drivers of the past, including PCs and smartphones lose steam and no longer push industry demand,” comments .Mike Howards, VP of DRAM & Memory research within the Semiconductor & Software division at Yole.
In parallel, NAND market is expected to set another revenue record in 2018, before a flattish 2019. Therefore it continues to expand, with several consecutive quarters of record revenue and profitability for suppliers.

NAND’s competitive landscape remains incredibly dynamic. Samsung is prepping its first fab at its massive Pyeongtaek site; Intel is emerging as a stand-alone supplier with capacity in China; and the sale of Toshiba’s memory business to a consortium led by Bain Capital is finally happening. Meanwhile, a new entrant looms on the horizon: China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), which threatens to disrupt the status-quo as well as multiple other Chinese projects.

“NAND demand remains robust, with strong growth for enterprise SSDs in data centers, increasing adoption of SSDs in laptop PCs, and continued content growth in smartphones and other mobile devices,” asserts Walt Coon, VP of NAND and Memory Research at Yole.“These segments will continue driving the bulk of NAND bit consumption, though several emerging trends are poised to augment future growth, including AI and VR adoption, automotive, and IoT,” he adds.

Memory Research Service from Yole, provides all data related to NAND/DRAM revenue per quarter, NAND/DRAM shipments, pricing per NAND/DRAM type, near and long-term revenue, market share per quarter, CAPEX per company, and a market demand/supply forecast. It also includes a complete analysis and details on the demand side, with a deep dive into client and enterprise SSD, data centers, mobile, automotive, graphics, PC, and more. Each Memory Research Service is composed of both products, the Quarterly Market Monitor and the Monthly Pricing Monitor.

During the next few weeks, Yole’s Memory Team will attend a selection of key trade shows and conferences to present the Memory Research Services. Make sure you will be there and ask for a meeting right now. Mike Howard and Walt Coon will for example be at SEMICON West mid-July and the Flash Memory Summit (Santa Clara, CA, North America – From August 6 to 9) in August. More information: Yole’s Agenda