Tag Archives: letter-wafer-business

Lumileds today announced the appointment of Dr. Jonathan Rich as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Rich most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Berry Global, Inc., a Fortune 500 specialty materials and consumer packaging company, from 2010 to 2018. Dr. Rich succeeds Mark Adams, who is stepping down as CEO and from the board of directors but will remain in an advisory role to the company.

“I am very pleased to be joining Lumileds and am looking forward to building on the company’s differentiated lighting technology foundation to increase the value we can deliver to customers across a broad set of industries,” said Dr. Rich. “The opportunity for lighting innovation to make a positive impact on safety and sustainability is tremendous.”

Before Dr. Rich held the position of Chairman and CEO of Berry Global, he was president and CEO at Momentive, a specialty chemical company headquartered in Albany, New York. Prior to that, he held positions with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, first as President of the Global Chemicals business and subsequently as President of Goodyear’s North American Tire Division. Dr. Rich spent his formative years at General Electric, first as a research scientist at GE Global Research and then in a series of management positions with GE Plastics. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been a visiting lecturer at Cornell University Johnson School of Business since 2017.

“Mark Adams has made significant contributions to Lumileds during his tenure, leading the transition to an independent company and cultivating a culture of innovation and customer focus,” said Rob Seminara, a senior partner at Apollo and chairman of the board of Lumileds. “On behalf of the Board of Directors of Lumileds, we would like to thank him for his service to the company and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. We are very excited Jon will be joining Lumileds to drive the next phase of innovation and growth and we look forward to working with him again.”

Added Adams: “It has been a great experience leading Lumileds’ transition to an independent company that is focused on delivering lighting solutions that truly make a positive impact in the world. I would like to thank the employees of Lumileds and the Apollo team for their support and wish the company much success in the future.”

The eBeam Initiative, a forum dedicated to the education and promotion of new semiconductor manufacturing approaches based on electron beam (eBeam) technologies, today announced that ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) has joined the eBeam Initiative. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chip-making equipment, ASML will provide its valuable perspective to the educational activities of the eBeam Initiative within the semiconductor photomask and lithography supply chain.

In 2009, the eBeam Initiative was launched to provide a strong voice and educational platform for eBeam technology within the photomask and semiconductor design and manufacturing community. Instrumental to its efforts, the eBeam Initiative leverages its annual perceptions and mask maker surveys to confirm key trends to help guide the industry forward in supporting the introduction of new eBeam technologies. In achieving a new milestone with 50 member companies, the eBeam Initiative continues its charter to enable industry collaboration to advance the eBeam technology ecosystem.

Today, during the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference being held at the San Jose Convention Center, the eBeam Initiative will host its annual luncheon event featuring presentations from Dr. Yu Cao, senior vice president of ASML; Dr. Harry Levinson, principal at HJL Lithography; and Dr. Leo Pang, chief product officer and executive vice president at D2S. These industry luminaries will cover several eBeam-related topics key to the future success of photomask manufacturing and lithography, including: computations for EUV lithography; GPU-accelerated simulation enabling applied deep learning for photomasks; and applications of machine learning in computational lithography. Copies of these presentations will be made available after February 26 on the eBeam Initiative website at www.ebeam.org.

ASML will provide valuable perspectives to the eBeam Initiative,” stated Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S, managing company sponsor of the eBeam Initiative. “ASML has significant expertise in modeling and simulation of the lithography process as well as eBeam metrology and inspection, the latter through the acquisition of HMI. This offers expanded insights for eBeam mask writing around metrology and inspection, as well as computational lithography. To continue to develop new innovations in eBeam technology, the need for collaborative industry efforts like those of the eBeam Initiative have never been more important. We are very pleased to welcome ASML as our newest contributor to our mission to provide industry collaboration for new semiconductor manufacturing approaches that accelerate the use of eBeam technology.”

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.89 billion in billings worldwide in January 2019 (three-month average basis), according to the January Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI. The billings figure is 10.5 percent lower than the final December 2018 level of $2.10 billion, and is 20.8 percent lower than the January 2018 billings level of $2.37 billion.

“January billings of North American equipment manufacturers declined 10 percent when compared to the prior month,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “Weakening smartphone demand and high inventory levels are eroding capital equipment investments, especially by memory suppliers.”

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
August 2018
$2,236.8
2.5%
September 2018
$2,078.6
1.2%
October 2018
$2,029.2
0.5%
November 2018
$1,943.6
-5.3%
December 2018 (final)
$2,104.0
-10.5%
January 2019 (prelim)
$1,896.4
-20.8%

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), February 2019

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. These powerful tools provide access to spending forecasts, capacity ramp, technology transitions, and other information for over 1,000 fabs worldwide. For an overview of available SEMI market data, please visit www.semi.org/en/MarketInfo.

POET Technologies Inc., a designer, developer and manufacturer of optoelectronic devices, including light sources, passive wave guides, and Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for the data- and tele-communication markets, today announced that it had entered into an agreement with the highly-respected firm, MillView Photonics, Inc. (“MillView”) to establish a collaborative design center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

MillView was established two years ago by Dr. Trevor J. Hall, Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Founding Director of the Centre for Research in Photonics at the University of Ottawa. Along with his team, which includes Peng Liu, senior passive component designer, Mihail Dumitrescu, senior active component designer, and supported by doctoral and postdoctoral graduate engineers, MillView serves clients in photonics research, simulation, design and process development.

The agreement between the two companies brings together in one lab the MillView team, including Dr. Hall, additional staff from MillView, and three PhD-level photonics engineers from POET.  The team is also supported by POET’s Senior Vice President, Dr. William Ring, and additional POET design engineering resources.

Commenting on the collaboration agreement, Dr. Trevor Hall, a graduate of Cambridge University, noted, “MillView Photonics was founded along the same model as Cambridge Consultants where I worked on my return to Cambridge following PhD studies at University College London, U.K.  Cambridge Consultants tapped into a vast reservoir of talent to solve real-world design and engineering challenges utilizing academic/industry partnerships.  MillView is similarly situated to bring in the specific talent needed to address and solve a broad range of engineering challenges in photonics.  We are all really gratified to be working as a team with POET Technologies.  POET’s unique Optical Interposer™ platform has tremendous market potential, and we are all committed as one team to its success.”

POET’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, commented: “POET’s partnership with MillView rapidly expands our effort with experienced photonics engineering talent and substantial simulation and design capacity.  In line with our stated strategy, we have assembled a team in one place dedicated to one goal – the design and development of waveguides and filters for our Optical Interposer platform. In addition, this places POET squarely in both a region and University where photonics design and development are vibrant and pervasive.  The number of companies engaged in the photonics industry and the quality of the engineering talent available is extraordinary.  We are very appreciative for the reception that Dr. Hall has extended to POET that allows us to function as one team.”

2019 TSX Venture 50
POET also announced today that the Company has been named to the 2019 TSX Venture 50 list, a ranking of the top performers on the TSX Venture Exchange over the past year. The TSX Venture 50 ranking is comprised of ten companies from each of the five industry sectors represented on the TSX Venture Exchange. Companies are selected based on three equally weighted criteria: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation and trading volume.

POET’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Mika, commented, “We are gratified to be recognized as one of the top technology companies on the TSX Venture Exchange for 2019. Last year was a transformational year for the Company, highlighted by our first orders for our POET Optical Interposer-based solutions from leading global communications companies targeting data communications applications. Additionally, we recently received an offer to purchase our DenseLight subsidiary as part of our plan to pursue a fab-light strategy with a less capital-intensive business model. In fact, today’s announced collaboration agreement with MillView for combining design capabilities also furthers these efforts by leveraging key strategic partnerships to establish POET as a world-class organization with leading optical products. We look forward to building on our growing momentum in 2019 as we realize the substantial commercial potential for POET’s technology.”

pSemi Corporation today announced that its parent company and executive leadership has approved the recommendation of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Cable for an evolution of the company’s senior leadership structure.  Under the new structure, the company’s current VP of Product Marketing, Sumit Tomar, will succeed Jim as CEO, effective July 1, 2019.  Jim will continue as Chairman and Chief Technology Officer.  In addition, Jim will remain as global semiconductor R&D director for the parent company Murata Manufacturing.

“I am very proud of what we have accomplished here at pSemi Corporation.  In our over 30 years of innovation, we have consistently pushed the envelope of technology.  Now it is time to ensure we can continue to compete just as strongly in the future.  To that end, I have selected an internal candidate to succeed me as CEO,” says Jim Cable.  “I have watched Sumit in action, he knows our company and I am 100 percent committed to a successful transition for him and the company. We did an extensive external search and decided that the right choice was already here.”

Tomar is a 20-year industry veteran with a proven track record of bringing successful products to the market.  An expert in the RF ecosystem, Tomar has a solid understanding of RF products and has driven product execution from inception to production for hundreds of market-shaping products. From 2012 to 2016, Tomar served as the general manager of Qorvo’s wireless infrastructure business unit. In addition, he worked in RF product management at Texas Instruments, Sierra Monolithics and Skyworks. His product marketing experience spans 4/5G smartphone and radio access networks, automotive semiconductors, 802.11ax access points, SDN/NFV for data centers, and machine learning and artificial intelligence for mobile edge networks. In 2016, he co-founded C-RAN Inc., a startup that is developing a 5G RF system prototype. Tomar holds a Master of Science in electrical engineering and completed the StanfordExecutive Management Program. He joined pSemi Corporation in August of 2017 as the Vice President of Product Marketing.  “Sumit has been instrumental in managing our relationship with Murata to ensure that we support our parent company while continuing to innovate new products in the RF space,” continues Cable.

“Murata believes that successful succession planning requires careful consideration and attention to ensure a strong talent pipeline,” says Norio Nakajima, senior executive vice president and board member for Murata Manufacturing. “Jim’s selection of Sumit is an ideal example of outstanding succession planning.  I have had the pleasure of watching Sumit in action and I am convinced he is the right person to succeed Jim.”

Soitec (Euronext Paris), a designer and manufacturer of innovative semiconductor materials, and Shanghai Simgui Technology Co., Ltd. (Simgui), a Chinese silicon-based semiconductor materials company, jointly announced today an enhanced partnership and an increase in annual production capacity of 200mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers from 180,000 to 360,000 at Simgui’s manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China, to better serve the growing global market for RF-SOI in mobile and Power-SOI products.

Since signing their original licensing and technology transfer agreement in May 2014, the companies have achieved high quality standards with Simgui mastering Soitec’s Smart Cut(TM) proprietary process to deliver world-class RF-SOI and Power-SOI products. Simgui’s strategic partnership with Soitec allows them to use the same tools and processes to deliver the same products meeting the same specifications.

This ramp up in production is a direct result of the close collaboration and customer focus of both partners to deliver high quality SOI products at high volume. To further advance this mission,  Simgui and Soitec have redefined their original financial agreement and specific roles regarding the 200 mm wafers produced by Simgui. Simgui will focus on SOI wafer manufacturing and Soitec will manage worldwide product resale. To meet increasing worldwide demand for 200mm SOI in response to the growing market for RF-SOI used in mobile front-end modules (FEM) and for Power-SOI used in automotive and consumer electronics, Simgui has invested in their Shanghai fabrication line to offer customers this increased production capacity. The fab is production ready, having been qualified by multiple key customers inside and outside China.

“We are very pleased to continue our long-standing history and manufacturing partnership with Simgui to secure 200 mm capacity for our customers in markets where RF-SOI is today a standard for RF FEM for 4G & 5G and Power-SOI shows strong growth,” said Dr. Bernard Aspar, Soitec’s Executive Vice President, Communications and Power Business Unit. “Soitec and Simgui are committed to serve this industry with the right level of capacity and product quality.”

“Through our industrial collaboration with Soitec, Simgui has proven the robustness and high-volume scalability of Soitec’s Smart Cut technology and we are pleased to announce this new step in our relationship and increase in production capacity to serve our existing and future customers,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wang, Simgui’s Chief Executive Officer. “China has design, wafer manufacturing and good momentum in the IC industry. We are committed to our strategic partnership with Soitec to keep advancing SOI as China’s key differentiator.”

Silicon Catalyst, the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating solutions in silicon, today announced Soitec (Euronext Paris), a designer and manufacturer of semiconductor materials, as its first European Strategic Partner. This agreement provides Soitec access to early-stage silicon technology innovation targeting consumer, IoT and automotive segments and applications.

Silicon Catalyst is a Silicon Valley-based incubator providing silicon-focused start-ups access to a world-class network of advisors, design tools, silicon devices, networking, access to funding and marketing acumen needed to successfully launch their businesses. Soitec will engage in this start-up ecosystem to gain insight into the newest technologies and applications across high-growth markets, and to guide nascent technologies to successful market penetration.

“As a Strategic Partner of Silicon Catalyst, Soitec has a unique opportunity to grow our visibility among early-stage semiconductor companies,” said Thomas Piliszczuk, Executive VP of Global Strategy for Soitec. “Engineered substrates give semiconductor related start-ups a competitive edge in developing new high-performance, energy-efficient solutions. We are looking forward to supporting emerging trends and technology advancements with Silicon Catalyst’s distinguished portfolio of semiconductor entrepreneurs.”

“We are pleased to welcome Soitec as our first European Strategic Partner. Soitec is creating technical advances that are enabling the next generation of products across many market segments. Their SOI technology is a key ingredient to meet the diverse challenges for breakthrough differentiated semiconductor products, combining ultra-low power with excellent analog / mixed-signal performance,” stated Pete Rodriguez, CEO of Silicon Catalyst. “Joining our other Strategic Partners, Texas Instruments and ON Semiconductor, Soitec will participate in the selection of applicants to our incubator and provide guidance for our Portfolio Companies, contributing to the growth of startups that are creating the next generations of semiconductor innovation.”

Soitec’s substrate solutions, most notably silicon-on-insulator (SOI), address the full range of applications for electronics. SOI substrates are designed to support ultra-low power signal processing, wireless connectivity, power, image sensors and silicon photonics applications. Radio-frequency silicon-on-insulator (RF-SOI) substrates are the foundation of the RF incumbent technology for RF Front-End modules used in all smart phones manufactured today. RF-SOI and fully depleted SOI (FD-SOI) material enable ultra-low power connectivity, mobility, distributed AI and edge computing. Adding our new compound and piezo-electric on insulator substrates, Soitec offers a wide range of engineered substrates addressing numerous and fast growing segments like automotive, AI-IoT (AIoT) and 5G.

By Mike Russo

For public policy lovers, civic-minded, engaged U.S. citizens, and people around the world interested in the U.S. President’s positions and priorities, the annual State of the Union address (SOTU) is “must-see TV.” This year, the anticipation and expectations were different than with past presidents. Trump is the first U.S. president who has used social media to the extreme that he has. Indeed, his Twitter feed is the most followed in history.

President Trump’s prolific Twitter feed has had an interesting impact on the SOTU. U.S. citizens and people from around the world already know President Trump’s positions on issues, his policy priorities and what gets him excited. There is an ongoing, direct line to the President’s thoughts throughout each and every day. In the past we looked to the SOTU for insights into what the sitting president is really thinking and his future policy priorities. Now, there isn’t much we don’t already know.

One looming question this year was whether President Trump would reach out in a conciliatory manner to help bridge the political divide and lay the groundwork to enable some public policy wins and avoid another government shutdown. While there were moments of conciliation, the President made it clear he would not move on areas that are most contentious with the other side of the aisle.

For example, the President unequivocally reiterated his intent to build “the wall.” While the message plays well to his base, it is, in effect, a frontal assault and challenge to Democrats. It’s hard to image that his staunch stance will help move the two parties to work together on substantive policy issues. It may also mean that the “wall” issue will occupy lawmakers time for the foreseeable future, sidelining debate on other important issues.

The best hope is that a bipartisan bill finds its way to the President’s desk that he can sign and use to “declare victory.” However, many political observers believe the likelihood of the President declaring a national security emergency is rising as a maneuver to ensure funding for “the wall” and avoid a shutdown. While such a declaration would most likely face a court challenge, the President could claim that his decision was a move of last resort and leverage the moment to position Democrats as obstructionists to his base. The scenario does not bode well for the bipartisan support necessary to address other issues.

What does this mean for our industry? Were there any points raised in the SOTU that would signal a change in what we are facing regarding trade, tariffs, export controls and immigration? Were any new issues or ideas raised that could help lift the global economy? In short, no. On one hand, the President cited his good relationship with the president of China, but on the other doubled down on his attacks on China, seeming to stand firm to bolster his position at the table as the U.S. and China trade talks continue.

What do these dynamics mean for SEMI Global Advocacy? In 2018 we were heavily engaged in efforts to prevent regulations that would inhibit our members’ ability to develop and deploy technologies and maintain global market access. We advanced our global advocacy model, leveraging our regional presence around the world. Many of the potential issues we faced emanated from the U.S., including those focused on controlling technology development, limiting trade and enhancing export controls. We also intensified our efforts to address industry talent pipeline issues.

In 2019, our public policy focus will be to continue to push back on tariffs, engage members to inform the rule-making process for export controls and to attempt to influence the immigration debate as it pertains to access to talent. In addition, while the U.S. R&D tax credit was made permanent through the tax cut in 2017, some of the provisions may have unintended consequences and will need to be modified. How the law is enacted will affect how businesses can deduct qualified research and development and other expenses from their taxable income, so we anticipate activity on the tax front as well.

It will also be a big year for SEMI on the workforce developmentfront. SEMI will continue to grow its existing High Tech U (HTU), university and mentor programs. In addition, SEMI will be positioning itself as the global leader in addressing issues related to the talent pipeline by approaching the problem with a full-spectrum, holistic approach that is intended to better address more immediate needs in attracting, training and retaining qualified talent. We’ll also focus on improving the industry image and exciting students at a younger age by providing experiential learning activities throughout a defined educational pathway. Stay tuned on this front as the full program unfolds.

In general, we will continue to build our relationships and stature as a leading voice for our members and the end-to-end semiconductor supply chain in the areas of “Talent, Trade, Tax and Technology” (SEMI’s “4 Ts”) and to ensure free and fair trade, access to markets, supply chain growth, IP protections and enhanced efforts to improve cybersecurity.

Mike Russo is VP of Global Industry Advocacy at SEMI. 

Source: SEMI Blog

Critical subsystems for the IC equipment market continued to grow to a new record of $11 billion in 2018. While 2019 is expected to be a downturn year, the long-term outlook remains unchanged with an average growth rate of 3 percent.

Last year may have been a new high for revenues, but it will be remembered as a year of two parts: record quarterly revenues in Q1, followed by rapidly falling orders in Q3 and Q4. Normally, this would not be a problem as suppliers are used to managing volatility in their businesses. However, encouraged by solid end market drivers and optimistic customers, the timing of this downturn was particularly bad as it coincided with the addition of significant new manufacturing capacity for critical subsystems that will be needed to supply the industry into the next decade. The resulting step change in costs against the backdrop of falling revenues has put strain on the financials of these suppliers. Although current visibility is poor, the order decline appears to be stabilising and the worst is nearly over. Revenues are expected to recover in the second half of 2019 followed by a promising outlook for the following three years.

Critical Subsystems for IC equipment history and forecast to 2022. After a pause in 2019, the trend is expected to continue to reach new industry records.

Suppliers of subsystems used in vacuum process tools, such as deposition and etch, have benefited the most from critical subsystems growth since 2012. Vacuum intensity of semiconductor processing continues to grow and in 2018 the value of vacuum process tools exceeded the value of non-vacuum process tools for the first time. This trend is expected to continue with vacuum based semiconductor process equipment accounting for over 60 percent of wafer fab equipment revenues by 2023.

In summary, 2019 is expected to be down 10 percent to 20 percent as the industry digests the recent large additions to semiconductor manufacturing capacity, followed by a new cycle starting in 2020.

Julian West is a technical and marketing analyst at VLSI Research Europe.

Source: SEMI Blog

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that IBM (NYSE: IBM), a long-time anchor tenant at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Albany, plans to invest over $2 billion to grow its high-tech footprint at the campus and throughout New York State. This includes the establishment of an “AI Hardware Center” at SUNY Poly for artificial intelligence-focused computer chip research, development, prototyping, testing and simulation. Once established, the AI Hardware Center will be the nucleus of a new ecosystem of research and commercial partners, and further solidify the Capital Region’s position as “Tech Valley” – a global hub for innovative research and development.

“New York has always been at the forefront of emerging industries, and this private sector investment to create a hub for artificial intelligence research will attract world-class minds and drive economic growth in the region,” Governor Cuomo said. “Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how we live and how businesses operate, and this partnership with IBM will help ensure New York continues to be on the cutting edge developing innovative technologies.”

“This investment by IBM will continue to grow New York’s high-tech industry in the Capital Region and across the state,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “The artificial intelligence hardware center will expand research and partnerships at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and ensure Tech Valley attracts innovative business and development that drives economic development in the region.”

IBM’s expected $2 billion investment will be made at SUNY Poly and other IBM facilities in New York State. IBM plans to provide at least $30 million in cash and in-kind contributions for artificial intelligence research across the SUNY system, with SUNY matching up to $25 million for a combined total of $55 million. Empire State Development will provide a $300 million capital grant over five years, to the Research Foundation for SUNY to purchase, own and install tools necessary to support the AI Hardware Center.

IBM also plans to expand and extend its partnership with SUNY Poly for the Center for Semiconductor Research (CSR), which is set to expire at the end of 2021, through at least 2023, with an option to extend the CSR for an additional five years through 2028.

The AI Hardware Center will attract new AI industry companies and federal research to the state, while fostering economic development and working to create several hundred new jobs and retain hundreds of other existing jobs at the SUNY Poly campus and at IBM’s and its collaborators’ facilities.