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WPG Americas, Inc. (WPGA), a subsidiary of WPG Holdings, Asia’s number one electronics distributor, was recently awarded the Fastest Growing Revenue Recognition Award by Micron Technology, Inc.

From left: Lorenzo Ponzanelli, Rich Davis, Mike Bokan, John Balzotti, Dana Slater, Don Brady, Ian Basey and Jeff Bader

From left: Lorenzo Ponzanelli, Rich Davis, Mike Bokan, John Balzotti, Dana Slater, Don Brady, Ian Basey and Jeff Bader

This award, which recognizes WPGA’s continued efforts to grow their presence as a frontrunner in the semiconductor industry, was accepted on June 7, 2016 at the Crown Plaza in San Jose, CA. Don Brady, Director of Americas Distribution for Micron, presented the award.

“We are excited to have been recognized by Micron for our hard work this past year and we look forward to strengthening our relationships in the future,” said Rich Davis, President of WPGA.

Accepting on behalf of WPGA were Davis, Ian Basey, VP of Marketing, John Balzotti, VP Americas Sales, and Dana Slater, Product Line Manager. Present from the Micron team were Lorenzo Ponzanelli, Sr. Director of Worldwide Sales, Mike Bokan, VP Worldwide OEM Sales and Jeff Bader, VP Embedded Business Unit.

Headquartered in San Jose, CA, WPG Americas Inc. is a member of WPG Holdings, a $14.9B worldwide distributor of semiconductors, passive, electro-mechanical and display products.

POET Technologies Inc., a developer of opto-electronics fabrication processes for the semiconductor industry, today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of all of the shares of BB Photonics Inc. (“BB Photonics”), a private designer of integrated photonic solutions for the data communications market. POET completes the transaction owning 100% of BB Photonics and its assets, including intellectual property and technologies.  BB Photonics had no liabilities at Closing.

BB Photonics, a pre-revenue, New Jersey-based privately held company develops photonic integrated components for the datacenter market utilizing embedded dielectric technology that is intended to enable on-chip athermal wavelength control and lower the total solution cost of datacenter photonic integrated circuits. This strategic acquisition is designed to provide POET with additional differentiated intellectual property and know-how for product development, enable POET to better service its first identified commercialization market – the end-to-end data communications market – and augment its sensing roadmap.

“The addition of BB Photonics significantly enhances our integrated photonic solution set and advances our commercialization initiative,” said Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, POET’s Chief Executive Officer. “By internal development and acquisition, we are accelerating our drive from technology leadership to market entry in differentiated photonics.”

The POET platform and process technology continue to be the focal point of the Company’s commercialization strategy.  To this end, the POET team continues to make progress toward its previously announced goal of demonstrating an integrated product prototype by the end of 2016 using the POET platform.  POET’s recent acquisitions and organic development are meant to serve as a logical continuum of the roadmap by enabling immediate market entrance into its first identified commercialization market – data communications. The acquisitions also allow the Company to engage prospective customers with an extensive suite of integrated photonics products, thereby enabling multiple differentiated product sales and enhancing potential revenue.

POET acquired 100% of the shares of BB Photonics in consideration of the issuance of 1,996,090 common shares from POET’s treasury for a total deemed purchase price of US $1,550,000 in this stock only transaction, based on a price of the US equivalent of $1.00 per share.

Power transistors—the $12 billion growth engine in the $21 billion discrete semiconductor market—have faced a choppy uphill climb since surging in the 2010 recovery from the 2008 2009 economic recession. Worldwide revenues for power transistors continue to increase by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 4%, but sales in the largest discretes product category have fallen in three out of the last five years because of ongoing economic uncertainty and quick cancellation of purchase orders by systems makers whenever they see signs of demand weakening for end-use electronic products, says IC Insights’ 2016 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.

After dropping 7% in 2015 to $12.3 billion, power transistor sales are expected to stabilize and begin a modest recovery in 2016, growing by a little over 1% to $12.4 billion, according to the latest edition of IC Insights’ annual O-S-D Report, which contains a detailed five-year forecast of sales, unit shipments, and average selling prices (ASPs) for more than 30 individual product types and device categories in optoelectronics, sensors/actuators, and discretes. The 360-page report shows power transistor sales slowly regaining strength in the next few years, rising 3% in 2017 to $12.8 billion followed by 5% growth in 2018 to about $13.5 billion, which will match the current annual peak set in 2011 (Figure 1).

Between 2015 and 2020, power transistor sales are projected to grow by a CAGR of 3.9% to $14.8 billion in the final year of the 2016 O-S-D Report’s forecast.  The annual growth rate in the second half of this decade essentially matches the CAGR of 4.0% recorded in the last 10 years (2005-2015), but IC Insights anticipates much less volatility in the power transistor market because worldwide demand will continue to climb for greater energy efficiency in data center computers, industrial systems, home appliances, battery-operated portable electronics, automobiles, and the explosion of connections to the Internet of Things (IoT).  Worldwide shipments of power transistors are now forecast to rise by a CAGR of 6.5%, reaching 71.1 billion units in 2020 compared to about 52.0 billion in 2015.

power transistors

Among the power transistor product categories, sales growth is expected to be the strongest in high voltage field-effect transistors (FETs) and insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules during the second half of this decade. The 2016 O-S-D Report shows sales of high-voltage (over 200V) FETs growing by a CAGR of 4.7% to $2.4 billion in 2020 while IGBT modules are expected to increase by an annual rate of 4.0% to $3.2 billion in five years.  Other projected 2015-2020 CAGR growth rates for power transistor product categories are: 3.7% for low-voltage FETs (under 200V) to $5.6 billion; 3.8% for discrete IGBT transistors to $1.1 billion; and 3.1% for bipolar junction transistors to $886 million in 2020.

Samco, a Japan-based semiconductor processing equipment manufacturer, held a completion ceremony for its second production center on June 17. The new production center, which began construction in January and is expected to begin operations during the fall of this year, boosts Samco’s original shipment capacity of 6-7 billion yen per year to a total of 10-11 billion yen per year.

“We expect to see an increased demand for dry etching and CVD systems due to the IoT’s rapid expansion, as well as anticipated growth in the medical and robotics industries,” says Osamu Tsuji, Samco’s president, chairman and CEO. “With the completion of our newest production center, Samco is prepared to meet those demands.”

Containing a total land area of 1,260 m2, Samco’s second production center’s total floor space is 1,130 m2 (which includes a 217.61 square-meter clean room), and will mainly be used to assemble and modify processing equipment for mass production. The 600 million yen investment also included renovations for the existing production technology building.

The two-floor steel-framed building stands adjacent to Samco’s headquarters in Kyoto, which has been described as the “Silicon Valley of Japan” due to its abundance of technology-based companies and manufacturers.

“Our second production center serves as a contribution to the local economy and is recognized by Kyoto City’s program to promote the siting of companies within the city,” says Tsuji.

The new production center’s eco-friendly design utilizes LED lighting that employs the latest energy-saving technology, as well as an energy efficient air conditioner and large-scale solar panel that spans across the roof and provides a portion of the building’s electricity (max. 50kW/h). Additionally, the roof is coated with a high-insulation paint.

“At the same time, the building also observes the city’s construction regulations that aim to protect Kyoto’s place as a historical and cultural treasure,” says Tsuji.

Each year at SEMICON West, the “Best of West” awards are presented by Solid State Technology and SEMI. More than 700 companies exhibit at SEMICON West and 26,000+ professionals attend, from the electronics manufacturing supply chain. The “Best of West” award was established to recognize new products moving the industry forward with technological developments in the electronics supply chain.

The Best of West 2016 Finalists will be displaying their products on the show floor at Moscone Center from July 12-14:

  • Coventor: SEMulator3D – A 3D semiconductor process modeling platform that can predicatively model any fabrication process applied to any semiconductor design. Starting from a “virtual” silicon wafer, the product performs a series of unit processes like those in the fab to create highly accurate 3D computer models of the predicted structures on wafer. (Facilities and Software category; Booth #2622)
  • CyberOptics: WaferSense® and ReticleSense® Auto Multi Sensors (AMS) – Wireless sensor devices capable of multiple measurements (leveling, vibration and relative humidity) to save time and expense while improving yields. WaferSense AMS travels through virtually any tool with its thin and light form factor, while ReticleSense AMSR has the same measurement capabilities in a reticle shaped form factor. (Metrology and Test category; Booth #2323)
  • Graphenea: Graphene Integration on CMOS-Fab – Allows large-scale manufacture of 200mm CMOS-compatible graphene wafers (SEMI Standards), with low metal contamination levels. The industrial production method will produce uniform, large-scale/high-performance graphene in high yields and a reliable manner. (Advanced Materials and Materials Management category; Booth #632)
  • Kulicke & Soffa Industries: IConn MEM PLUS High Performance Wire Bonder for Memory Devices – A new high-performance memory device bonder for gold and silver alloy wire bonding. With its advanced process, looping, overhang control and ease of use capabilities, it delivers high quality and productivity benefits in complex multi die stack package applications. (Assembly/Packaging Solutions category, Booth #6060)
  • Rorze Automation: Rorze N2 Purged LP – Maintains low humidity during critical steps. A typical bottom purged LP can only offer control of an average of 30 percent RH. However, N2 purge LP from Rorze (patent pending) can offer a humidity control that is better than 5 percent. (Components and Subsystems category; Booth #1613)
  • SPTS Technologies (an Orbotech company): Rapier-300S – A production silicon DRIE module, designed specifically for dicing of 300mm  wafers mounted on 400mm frames. It builds on SPTS experience in plasma singulation of framed 150mm and 200mm wafers, and employs patent-protected end-pointing and process control techniques, critical to delivering stronger die than traditional dicing methods. (Assembly/Packaging Solutions category; Booth #1417)

The Best of West Award winner will be announced during SEMICON West (www.semiconwest.org) on Wednesday, July 13, 2016.

Leti, an institute of CEA Tech, is hosting a one-day conference covering “System Reliability & Security in a Connected World” in Lyon, France, on June 23.

Held at the Lyon Congress Center, this Leti Innovation Day event will explore novel, effective ways to ensure security in the emerging new phase of the digital revolution launched by the Internet of Things.

According to Alain Merle, Leti’s strategic marketing manager for security, this rapidly changing digital environment requires new paradigms for reliability, privacy and security in order to ensure a safe ecosystem for both industrials and consumers.  Hacking, data and identity theft, all digital threats to the real world, immediately follow the introduction or expansion of new applications of digital technology. The frontier between physical and digital security has vanished, he said.

“Companies must start implementing IoT security solutions at the start of the production cycle, and every new industrial project should be ruled not only by cost control, performance enhancement and energy savings, but also by security control,” added Lionel Rudant, Leti’s strategic marketing manager for IoT.

Presenters include Leti experts and industry leaders whose companies are collaborating with Leti on new security and reliability solutions for the next phase of the digital revolution. The lineup includes executives from Bureau Veritas, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Intel, Mentor Graphics, Oberthur Technologies, Safran and STMicroelectronics, who will share their insights on topics such as enabling a connected world, assessing security and reliability, anticipating security challenges and how advanced technologies can strengthen security.

Leti is a world leader in security evaluations through advanced technology, applications and medical platforms prototyping new digital services and driving innovative requirements for integrated system architectures.

Visit Leti Innovation Day for the complete program, list of speakers and registration information.

By Paula Doe, SEMI

The changing market for ICs means the end of business as usual for the greater semiconductor supply chain. Smarter use of data analytics looks like a key strategy to get new products more quickly into high yield production at improved margins.

Emerging IoT market drives change in manufacturing

The emerging IoT market for pervasive intelligence everywhere may be a volume driver for the industry, but it will also put tremendous pressure on prices that drive change in manufacturing. Pressure to keep ASPs of multichip connected devices below $1 to $5 for many IoT low-to-mid end applications, will drive more integration of the value chain, and more varied elements on the die. “The value chain must evolve to be more effective and efficient to meet the price and cost pressures for such IoT products and applications,” suggests Rajeev Rajan, VP of IoT, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, who will speak on the issue in a day-long forum on the future of smart manufacturing in the semiconductor supply chain at SEMICON West 2016 on July 14.

“It also means tighter and more complete integration of features on the die that enable differentiating capabilities at the semiconductor level, and also fewer, smaller devices that reduce the overall Bill of Materials (BOM), and result in more die per wafer.” He notes that at 22nm GLOBALFOUNDRIES is looking to enable an integrated connectivity solution instead of a separate die or external chip. Additional requirements for IoT are considerations for integrating security at the lower semiconductor/hardware layers, along with the typical higher layer middleware and software layers.

This drive for integration will also mean demand for new advanced packaging solutions that deliver smaller, thinner, and simpler form factors. The cost pressure also means than the next nodes will have to offer tangible power/performance/area/cost (PPAC) value, without being too disruptive a transition from the current reference flow. “Getting to volume yields faster will involve getting yield numbers earlier in the process, with increasing proof-points and planning iterations up front with customers, at times tied to specific use-cases and IoT market sub-segments,” he notes.

Rapid development of affordable data tools from other industries may help

Luckily, the wide deployment of affordable sensors and data analysis tools in other industries in other industries is developing solutions that may help the IC sector as well.  “A key trend is the “democratization” – enabling users to do very meaningful learning on data, using statistical techniques, without requiring a Ph.D. in statistics or mathematics,” notes Bill Jacobs, director, Advanced Analytics Product Management, Microsoft Corporation, another speaker in the program. “Rapid growth of statistics-oriented languages like R across industries is making it easier for manufacturers and equipment suppliers to capture, visualize and learn from data, and then build those learnings into dashboards for rapid deployment, or build them directly into automated applications and in some cases, machines themselves.”

Intel has reported using commercially available systems such as Cloudera, Aquafold, and Revolution Analytics (now part of Microsoft) to combine, store, analyze and display results from a wide variety of structured and unstructured manufacturing data. The system has been put to work to determine ball grid placement accuracy from machine learning from automatic comparison of thousands of images to select the any that deviate from the known-good pattern,  far more efficiently than human inspectors, and also to analyze tester parametrics to predict 90% of potential failures of the test interface unit before they happen.

“The IC industry may be ahead in the masses of data it gathers, but other industries are driving the methodology for easy management of the data,” he contends. “There’s a lot that can be leveraged from other industries to improve product quality, supply chain operations, and line up-time in the semiconductor industry.”

Demands for faster development of more complex devices require new approaches

As the cost of developing faster, smaller, lower power components gets ever higher, the dual sourcing strategies of automotive and other big IC users puts even more pressure on device makers to get the product right the first time. “There’s no longer time to learn with iterations to gradually improve the yield over time, now we need to figure out how to do this faster, as well as how to counter higher R&D costs on lower margins,” notes Sia Langrudi, Siemens VP Worldwide Strategy and Business Development,   who will also speak in the program.

The first steps are to recognize the poor visibility and traceability from design to manufacturing, and to put organizational discipline into place to remove barriers between silos. Then a company needs good baseline data, to be able to see improvement when it happens. “It’s rather like being an alcoholic, the first step is to recognize you have a problem,” says Langrudi. “People tell me they already have a quality management system, but they don’t. They have lots of different information systems, and unless they are capturing the information all in one place, the opportunity to use it is not there.”

Other speakers discussing these issues in the Smart Manufacturing Forum at SEMICON West July 14 include Amkor SVP Package Products Robert Lanzone, Applied Materials VP New Markets & Services Chris Moran, Intel VP IoT/GM Industrial Anthony Neal Graves, NextNine US Sales Manager Don Harroll, Optimal+ VP WW Marketing David Park, Qualcomm SVP Engineering Michael Campbell, Rudolph Technologies VP/GM Software Thomas Sonderman, and Samsung Sr Director, Engineering Development, Austin, Ben Eynon.

Learn more about the speakers at the SEMICON West 2016 session “Smart Manufacturing: The Key Opportunities and Challenges of the Next Generation of Manufacturing for the Electronics Value Chain.” To see all sessions in the Extended Supply Chain Forum, click here.

The market is expected to grow from USD 10.57 Billion in 2015 to USD 31.26 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.4% between 2016 and 2022, according to the new report “RF Power Semiconductor Market by Product (Power Amplifiers, Passives, Switches, and Duplexers), Material (Silicon, Gallium Nitride, and Gallium Arsenide), Frequency, Application (Consumer, and Aerospace & Defense), and Geography – Global Forecast to 2022,” published by MarketsandMarkets.

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The use of power amplifiers for long-term evolution (LTE) has increased with the growing demand for LTE. The transition to LTE would require a significant investment in the market as the core networks would also need to change for the upgradation of the wireless standard. This would also drive the demand for RF power devices, which would boost the growth of the RF power semiconductor market. The increased use of smartphones is another major factor driving the growth of the RF power semiconductor market.

RF power amplifiers to play a key role in the RF power semiconductor market

The RF power amplifiers are expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF power semiconductor market between 2016 and 2022 owing to the increasing adoption of power amplifiers across the globe. The growing preference for wireless connectivity has driven the use of RF power devices in wireless connectivity. The RF power amplifiers have applications in sectors such as aerospace & defense, automotive, medical, telecommunication and data communication, and consumer among others.

Consumer application held the largest market share in 2015

The consumer application is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF Power Semiconductor Market between 2016 and 2022. The growing use of smartphones and demand for faster data rates are the major drivers for the RF power semiconductor market in the consumer sector. The growth of LTE is also one of the major drivers for the growth of the RF power semiconductor market.

APAC expected to hold the largest market share and grow at the highest rate

APAC is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF power semiconductor market between 2016 and 2022. The established electronics industry and adoption of innovative technologies are the reasons for the high growth rate in the region. The RF power semiconductor market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a high rate in consumer, telecommunication and data communication, and medical sectors among others. The increasing number of players in the region is further expected to drive the growth of the APAC RF power semiconductor market.

The key players in RF power semiconductor market include Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Qorvo, Inc. (U.S.), Broadcom Limited (U.S.), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Qualcomm Inc. (U.S.), Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), and Murata Manufacturing (Japan).

IC Insights has just released the Update to its 2016 IC Market Drivers Report that examines and evaluates key existing and emerging end-use applications that will support and propel the IC industry through 2019.

In 2015 and early 2016, there were numerous reports of slowing in the Chinese smartphone market. Since most of the Chinese smartphone producer’s sales are to Chinese customers, this slowdown became evident in some of their 2015 and 1Q16 smartphone sales figures.  For example, China-based Coolpad’s smartphone sales dropped by 44% in 2015 to only 25.5 million units.  Moreover, Xiaomi, a real “high-flyer” in smartphone sales in 2013 and 2014 saw its growth slow to 16% last year.  While a 16% growth rate is still very commendable, its sales of about 71 million smartphones last year was well below the company’s earlier stated goal of shipping 100 million smartphones in 2015.

Figure 1 depicts actual 1Q16 smartphone unit sales by the top 12 companies with a forecast for their full-year 2016 unit volume shipments.  As shown, eight of the top 12 companies are headquartered in China with an Indian company (Micromax) making the list for the first time.   Gionee, a China-based smartphone supplier, just missed making the 1Q16 top 12 ranking after shipping 4.8 million handsets in the quarter.

IC Insights believes that there will be very little middle ground with regard to smartphone shipment growth rates among the top 12 suppliers this year.  As shown, seven of the top twelve companies are forecast to register 2016 growth rates of 6% or less while the other five companies are expected to each log 29% or better increases.  Further illustrating the maturing of the smartphone market, the top two suppliers, Samsung and Apple, are each forecast to show a slight decline in smartphone shipments this year.

Three companies are expected to drop out of the top 12 ranking this year as compared to 2015—Japan-based Sony, U.S.-based Microsoft, and China-based Coolpad.  These three companies saw their 1Q16 sales of smartphones drop to 3.4, 2.3, and 4.0 million, respectively.  Although Microsoft announced it intends to sell its non-smartphone business later this year, its early 2016 Lumia smartphones shipments put it on a path to sell less than 15 million units in 2016.

chinese ic suppliers fig 1

Figure 1

Additional details on the cellphone IC market are included in the 2016 Update of IC Insights’ IC Market Drivers—A Study of Emerging and Major End-Use Applications Fueling Demand for Integrated Circuits. This report examines the largest, existing system opportunities for ICs and evaluates the potential for new applications that are expected to help fuel the market for ICs through the end of this decade.

Boston Semi Equipment, LLC (BSE), the semiconductor equipment company redefining the price-performance model for semiconductor test automation equipment, announced today that its senior investment partner has committed to a new round of capital funding. This additional investment is a vote of confidence in the company’s new strategic direction and the market potential for BSE’s product development activities.

BSE, founded in 2010 as a secondary equipment provider to the semiconductor industry, has been transitioning its business to become an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of automation equipment for the handling and testing of semiconductor devices. BSE now develops and markets its own test handlers, wafer probers and custom designed automation equipment for the semiconductor market.

“This additional investment is being used to complete new products and fund engineering projects to expand BSE’s product offerings for our customers,” commented Colin Scholefield, Executive Vice President, Boston Semi Equipment. “Increasing the number of BSE-developed automation products for today’s semiconductor test floor will enable our customers to come to one source for more of their test automation needs.”

BSE also provides semiconductor manufacturers, OSATs and fabless companies with the legacy automatic test equipment they continue to use on their test floors every day. BSE’s worldwide team of product specialists helps customers maximize the productivity of all BSE products.