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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.

 

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.

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) plans to invest $51 million to support expansion of the Luzerne County facility. The ON Semiconductor Mountain Top location specializes in the manufacturing of semiconductor discrete devices used in power management applications across a wide variety of industries, including automotive, industrial, communication and computing.

Today, ON Semiconductor occupies 437,000 square feet of space on 84 acres in the Crestwood Industrial Park. The Mountain Top site is a high-tech location with a highly skilled workforce, benefits, clean work environment and open communication environment. The investment is planned to increase production and in turn create over 70 new jobs, including production staff, technicians, engineers and other support staff.

“We have an outstanding team of highly motivated employees combining our technical capabilities and expansive space capacity to meet exploding business growth in critical markets for ON Semiconductor,” said Heather Carreiro, general manager at ON Semiconductor’s Mountain Top facility. “The initial phase of expansion is currently underway. I’m very proud of our accomplishments and excited about the future of our operation here in Mountain Top.”

With its acquisition of Fairchild’s product portfolio of medium and high voltage products in late 2016, complementing ON Semiconductor’s specialization in low power, the company now has a complete suite of power conversion and power management technologies. This makes ON Semiconductor uniquely positioned to support customers across multiple sectors in working purposefully toward realizing the degree of energy efficiency desired by their customers and increasingly required by regulations.

ON Semiconductor is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and offers a portfolio of over 80,000 energy efficient power management, analog, sensors, logic, timing, connectivity, discrete, SoC and custom devices utilized in, computing, consumer, industrial, medical and military/aerospace applications. The company operates a network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers which are located in key markets throughout North America, Europe, and in the Asia Pacific region.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.70 billion in billings worldwide in May 2018 (three-month average basis), according to the May Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI. The billings figure is 0.6 percent higher than the final April 2018 level of $2.69 billion, and is 19.2 percent higher than the May 2017 billings level of $2.27 billion.

“May 2018 monthly global billings of North American equipment manufacturers exceeded last month’s level to set yet another record,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “Demand for semiconductor equipment remains strong on the back of smart, data-centric applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and edge computing.”

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
December 2017
$2,398.4
28.3%
January 2018
$2,370.1
27.5%
February 2018
$2,417.8
22.5%
March 2018
$2,431.8
16.9%
April 2018 (final)
$2,689.9
25.9%
May 2018 (prelim)
$2,705.8
19.2%

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

FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM), an electrical test and measurement supplier to the semiconductor industry, announced today the company has deployed an integrated CM300xi probing solution for wafer-level testing of silicon photonics (SiPh) devices. Teams from GLOBALFOUNDRIES, FormFactor and Keysight worked together to ensure the system is flexible to meet engineering needs and to deliver high throughput in volume production.

Silicon photonics can enable the transfer of enormous amounts of data at high speeds using optical signals instead of electrical signals. The silicon photonics market is gaining momentum for data center, automotive, and other applications because it allows optical devices to be made cost effectively –reducing power and size — using silicon semiconductor fabrication techniques. The global silicon photonics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.3% between 2017 and 2025, according to Inkwood Research.

The Cascade CM300xi from FormFactor, combined with Keysight Technologies’ Photonics Application Suite measurement software, provides industry-first capabilities of automated alignment and simultaneous optical-optical and optical-electrical device tests.  Key features of the system include:

  • Six-axis automated optical fiber positioning for precision alignment
  • Two-stage solution for both coarse and fine alignment
  • Optical alignment algorithms integrated with high-speed hardware control to shorten test times
  • FormFactor’s SiPh software to simplify integration with Keysight’s Photonics Applications Suite and optical instrumentation
  • Customized scripting and test programs to optimize the system for fast, accurate measurements
  • Keysight’s high speed, single sweep polarization-dependent-loss (PDL) test that enables high accuracy and repeatability testing without prior polarization alignment.

“GF’s silicon photonics leverages standard silicon manufacturing techniques to improve production efficiency and reduce cost for customers deploying optical interconnect systems,” said Jeffrey Lam, Vice President of product, test and failure analysis, at GF. “We’re excited to be at the forefront in deploying new test capabilities, including wafer level solutions to ramp this important technology.”

“With our long history of working with FormFactor to deliver wafer measurement solutions and decades of experience in photonic testing we are pleased to further equip the silicon photonics industry,” said Joachim Peerlings, Vice President and General Manager Networks & Data Centers, Keysight Technologies. “With Keysight’s Photonics Application Suite and instrumentation, we’ve built a proven, integrated measurement system that enables customers to quickly develop test routines that provide deep insight into photonics devices during R&D and design validation and has the flexibility and scalability for cost effective high-volume production.”

“Emerging technologies like silicon photonics offer FormFactor the opportunity to develop fully integrated probe systems. GF is a forward-thinking company in their adoption of these new test technologies,” said Mike Slessor, President and CEO of FormFactor. “Our collaboration with both Keysight and GF Singapore delivers a solution that truly addresses the unique test and measurement challenges of silicon photonics devices.”

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) today announced that Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs for display applications based on its gallium-nitride-nanowires-on-silicon platform, has selected Veeco’s Propel® GaN MOCVD system to support advanced research and development. Aledia noted the tool’s large process window, single-wafer reactor technology and defect stability as key factors in its decision to adopt the Propel system.

“We believe that the opportunity for our breakthrough nanowire-LED display technology on large-area silicon is very large, and we need the best and most scalable technology available to support our continued R&D around 3D display applications—we believe Veeco is best positioned,” stated Giorgio Anania, CEO, chairman and co-founder of Aledia. “Veeco’s cutting-edge Propel system delivers unsurpassed results, and very good homogeneity throughout the entire wafer, making it the best choice and one we know will help us continue to push the limits of innovation.”

Designed for leading-edge GaN applications like power, RF, laser diodes and advanced LEDs, the Propel system’s single-wafer reactor platform enables the processing of six- and eight-inch wafers or two- to four-inch wafers in a mini-batch mode. In addition to Veeco’s proprietary TurboDisc technology, the system also includes Veeco’s IsoFlange™ and SymmHeat™ technologies, which provide homogeneous laminar flow and uniform temperature profile across the entire wafer.

“On the heels of the company’s previous adoption of Veeco’s K465i™ MOCVD system, Aledia’s decision to turn to Veeco once again to support future generations of nanowire-LED technologies for mobile displays is a testament to our shared commitment to excellence,” noted Peo Hansson, Ph.D., senior vice president and general manager of MOCVD at Veeco. “We look forward to our continued partnership and to support Aledia as it continues to innovate new discoveries in the LED space.”

Innovators in display technology are focusing on the next big technological shifts such as micro-LED and 3D LED. Industry analysts predict a scenario where the market for advanced LED displays could potentially reach 330 million units by 2025. This optimism is fueled by the promise of sub-100 micrometer LEDs, which is considered the critical enabler to achieving the ultimate display.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) today announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike McDevitt will retire from his executive positions following a transition period. Mr. McDevitt intends to stay on until a successor is appointed, and thereafter will remain available as a consultant to the Company to ensure a seamless transition of leadership responsibilities.

Since joining Cree in 2002, Mr. McDevitt has held numerous executive financial positions with the Company, helping grow Cree from less than $200 million to approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue, with approximately 6,900 employees worldwide. Mr. McDevitt has served as the Company’s CFO since May 2012.

Gregg Lowe, CEO, said, “Mike has made significant contributions to the continued success of the Company during his role as CFO, and we appreciate his dedication to helping us solidify and introduce the new business strategy. Now that we have made our pivot, we are gaining traction in the market with the new strategy and believe that we have collectively positioned the Company to support our growth plans and achieve a successful future.”

Mr. McDevitt added, “I am confident that it is the appropriate time to begin this CFO transition as the team continues executing the new strategic direction going forward. It has been a privilege working with Cree’s many talented employees and our Board for the last 16 years, first driving the adoption of LEDs, then LED Lighting and more recently our Power and RF products. The Company is on healthy financial footing to enable its future growth. I appreciate the opportunity that Gregg and Chuck gave me to serve as their CFO. I look forward to working with Gregg and the team to find our next CFO and to ensure a smooth transition.”

The Company today also reaffirmed its previously announced business outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 ending June 24, 2018. As announced on April 24, 2018, for the fourth quarter Cree targets:

  • Revenue in a range of $390 million to $410 million.
  • GAAP net loss of $34 million to $38 million, or a $0.34 to $0.38 loss per diluted share.2
  • Non-GAAP net income in a range of $5 million to $9 million, or $0.05 to $0.09 per diluted share.1,2

1 Targeted non-GAAP income excludes $43 million, net of tax, of expenses related to stock-based compensation expense, the amortization or impairment of acquisition-related intangibles, the inventory basis step-up from the previously reported Infineon RF Power acquisition, transition and integration costs associated with the Infineon RF Power acquisition and charges associated with the restructuring of our Lighting Products business.

2 The GAAP and non-GAAP targets do not include any estimated change in the fair value of Cree’s Lextar investment, any potential reserve for ZTE specific inventory or impact from a potential Chinese LED tariffs.

Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), a distributor of specialty chemicals and advanced materials solutions, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the SAES Pure Gas business, from SAES Getters S.p.A. (“SAES Group”), an advanced functional materials company headquartered in Milan, Italy. The SAES Pure Gas business, a provider of high-capacity gas purification systems used in semiconductor manufacturing and adjacent markets is based in San Luis Obispo, California and will report into the Microcontamination Control division of Entegris. Under the agreement, Entegris will purchase the shares and assets which comprise the SAES Pure Gas business for approximately $355 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.

Materials purity plays an increasingly critical role in the performance and reliability of advanced semiconductors as the sensitivity to contamination approaches the parts per quadrillion level. Advanced memory devices require significantly higher gas consumption per processed wafer to support shrinking geometries and multi-layer device architectures. As a result of this heightened sensitivity to molecular contamination and increased gas consumption, semiconductor manufacturers are depending on bulk gas suppliers to deliver process gases that meet new purity requirements.

“With this acquisition, our customers will benefit from a complete portfolio of gas purifications solutions for both bulk and specialty gases,” said Bertrand Loy, president and Chief Executive Officer of Entegris. “We are excited about the value this transaction will create, as it demonstrates our strategy of augmenting our organic growth with high-value acquisitions that leverage our global business platform and broaden our technology portfolio.”

“As we executed our evolutionary strategy for SAES Group and considered potential acquirers for the SAES Pure Gas business, we viewed Entegris as the ideal partner given its leadership in the semiconductor industry, the complementary nature of its filtration and purification offerings, and its financial and operational strengths,” said Massimo della Porta, president of SAES Getters S.p.A.

According to a recent press release issued by SAES Group, the SAES Pure Gas business recorded revenues of €81 million, or $91.5 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of €29.3 million, or $33.1 million, for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and revenues of €25.5 million, or $31 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of €7.8 million, or $9.6 million, for the first quarter of 2018. Entegris intends to fund the acquisition from its available cash and expects that the transaction will be immediately accretive.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the completion of a pre-closing restructuring of certain of SAES Group’s US legal entities and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the next two to four weeks.

With the rapid rise of AI providing overwhelming possibilities for industry growth, SEMICON West has been designed to help the microelectronics industry get a firm handle on how best to enable and take advantage of AI’s potential. From the lab to the fab, and from design through system, the benefits from conversations at the event will be felt across transportation, medical, manufacturing, IoT and Big Data.

With the world’s interest racing toward how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can accelerate so many things, six visionary keynoters will reveal what lies ahead for semiconductors and society. Forecasting tomorrow’s trends and their impacts, the keynoters plan to illustrate the semiconductor’s path to enabling a global state of “Beyond Smart.” Complementing the keynotes, nearly 120 experts from multiple disciplines will analyze pivotal aspects of trends that are driving the emerging markets for microelectronics. This year’s preeminent event, SEMICON West, will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, July 10-12.

“SEMICON West is the timeless home where the world’s next innovations are previewed and accelerated,” said David Anderson, President of SEMI Americas. “With the dawn of the AI era ramping up globally, we’ve assembled the richest lineup of talent and resources in SEMI history.”

BEYOND SMART

Through both artificial and organic cognition, the ways that intelligence is being cultivated will be profiled and mapped by world-renowned keynoters:

  • Dr. John E. Kelly, III, Senior Vice President, IBM Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research
  • Gary Dickerson, Chief Executive Officer, Applied Materials
  • Amir Husain, Chief Executive Officer, SparkCognition, and author of The Sentient Machine: the Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence
  • Dr. Melissa Schilling, Professor, New York University Stern School of Business and author of Quirky: The Remarkable Genius of Breakthrough Innovators Who Changed the World
  • Mark Papermaster, Chief Technology Officer, Advanced Micro Devices
  • Dr. Wolfgang Juchmann, Vice President, AutonomouStuff

Dr. Kelly of IBM has shared in interviews that he was an “early-on” believer in Moore’s Law, where he built much of his career. Now, he sees the industry embarking on the early part of an “AI’s Law.” He is focused on IBM’s investments in several new and future areas of the fastest-growing and most strategic parts of the information technology market. He also oversees the specialization of IBM Watson into various industries and domains.

Gary Dickerson of Applied Materials is as well-versed as anyone about the history, and future, of the chip business. In addition to Applied, he also has led semiconductor equipment companies Varian Equipment and KLA-Tencor in their top executive positions for 25 years. His insights to be presented at SEMICON West will include first-hand knowledge of how the markets are changing and where will be the opportunities for the toolmaking and chipmaking businesses.

Amir Husain of SparkCognition argues — from his background as an inventor and computer scientist — that with AI, the chip industry is on the cusp of writing its next, and greatest, creations. Also author of The Sentient Machine, he’ll examine for the audience what complex computer science and AI concepts will mean for a wide variety of chip technologies, including the resulting cultural benefits and challenges. Husain is an advocate for embracing AI in order to advance the state of the art in many critical fields, including security, resource management, finance and energy.

Dr. Melissa Schilling of NYU’s Stern School of Business will speak about “creative genius” as partial reflection of her research focus on innovation and strategy in high-tech industries such as smartphones, gaming, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, electric vehicles and renewable energies. She’s well-studied in platform dynamics, networks, creativity and breakthrough innovation. As author of several innovation strategy textbooks and the recently released book Quirky, she suggests that regardless of whether an innovator is a one-hit wonder or a serial disruptor, a common thread among those introverts and extroverts alike is their cultivation of talents for the benefit of society.

Mark Papermaster of AMD is a veteran of silicon engineering at Apple, Cisco and IBM. He’s responsible for corporate technical direction, product development including system-on-chip (SOC) methodology, microprocessor design, I/O and memory, and advanced research. He also oversees Information Technology to deliver AMD’s compute infrastructure and services. From his leadership roles managing the development of products — from microprocessors to mobile devices and high-performance servers — Papermaster will offer his insights and forecasts around the inflection points for semiconductor applications and AI.

Dr. Wolfgang Juchmann of AutonomouStuff is expert in future automotive options and with the technologies that enable perception sensors, LiDAR and autonomous vehicles. He will include discussion of how and where advanced autonomous driving tasks will rely on new capabilities for radar, vision and ultra-sonic sensors, real-time 3D data fusion middleware, fully by-wire controllable autonomous development vehicles and modular software algorithms.

ROHM, a supplier of power semiconductors, and GaN Systems, a developer of GaN power semiconductors, today announced their collaboration in the GaN (gallium nitride) Power Semiconductor business, with the goal of contributing to the continuing evolution of power electronics.

This strategic partnership leverages GaN Systems’ industry leading capabilities in power GaN transistors along with ROHM’s comprehensive footprint in semiconductor and considerable resources in the design and manufacture of electronic components. The companies have agreed to jointly develop form-, fit-, and function-compatible products using GaN semiconductor dies in both GaN Systems’ GaNPX® packaging and ROHM’s traditional power semiconductor packaging. GaN Systems and ROHM customers will now have the advantage of having two possible sources for package-compatible GaN power switches, presenting the widest selection of dual-sourced GaN devices.

Customers will also benefit from greater access to GaN products and resources globally, especially in Asia, one of the fastest growing market for GaN. In addition, GaN Systems and ROHM will work together on GaN semiconductor research and development activities to propose ground-breaking solutions for the industrial, automotive, and consumer electronics fields. And to contribute to greater energy savings and increased power densities in the power electronics market, both companies will continue to collaborate to expand their line-up of GaN products and broaden the range of choices.

“GaN has rapidly made its ascent into power electronics applications and this partnership exemplifies how important GaN has become in a complete power electronics offering,” said Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems. “We’re proud to partner with ROHM, a company well-known for developing industry-leading technologies. By combining our joint expertise and capabilities, we’re enabling more businesses to access and experience the benefits of GaN in achieving higher power, more efficient, smaller, and lighter power electronics.”

“ROHM has targeted the power device business as one of our growth strategies. We offer leading-edge products such as SiC (Silicon Carbide) power devices and provide power solutions that integrate control technologies, including gate drivers that maximize device performance. We are also developing GaN for next-generation power devices. By leveraging the superior technologies and expertise of both companies, we are able to accelerate the development of high-performance solutions to solve the needs of the power market,” said Katsumi Azuma, Senior Managing Director of ROHM Semiconductor.