Electronics technology and market trends for 2019:
Markets: The Future of the Semiconductor Industry is Bright. Demand is rising for AI and automotive, flat for mobile phones, with trade uncertainty looming over everything. Foundries see growth and new issues in 2019. WSTS industry forecast projects annual global market growth of 2.6 percent in 2019.
Politics: Superpower politics may start to unravel semiconductor industry. China – USA market war is going on or starting. Trade Disputes Increase Market Uncertainty. The need to impose tariffs on U.S. imports of semiconductors is perplexing and frequently confusing. For example GoPro says it will move production of US-bound cameras out of China by summer 2019 due to fear of future tariffs, as US-China trade war escalates.
More-Than-Moore Markets: Software developers have come to expect ever-growing compute and memory resources, but the CPU no longer can deliver the kinds of performance benefits that scaling used to provide. CPUs no longer deliver the same kind of of performance improvements as in the past, raising questions across the industry about what comes next. The growth in processing power delivered by a single CPU core began stalling out at the beginning of the decade. The escalating costs of following Moore’s Law have shifted the semiconductor industry’s focus to More-than-Moore (MtM) technologies, where analog/mixed-signal, RF, MEMS, image sensing, power or other technologies may be integrated with CMOS in a variety of planar, 2.5D and 3D architectures. New Metrology and Inspection Technologies Needed for More-than-Moore Markets. Maximum flexibility is no longer the reliable path to product success. With scaling no longer happening for many companies, competitiveness now comes from better design, better performance and lower power.
Memory: DRAM fastest growing market in four of past six years, demonstrating very cyclical market. For the last two years, DRAMs have been sold more than any other semiconductors and market has been strongly growing. DRAM growth ends in 2019. New memory technologies like GDDR6 and HBM2 impacts system design. By 2018, embedded memory has become pervasive in a system-on-chip (SoC) and the area devoted to memory has risen to 72% and Semico Research predicts that this will rise to 79% by 2021.
AI: AI/ML/DL is now cropping up everywhere, and that trend shows no sign of abatement. AI and machine learning were considered distant future technologies until a few years ago, but now AI is suddenly pushed into the mainstream. ML support is showing up at all levels. The almost ubiquitous rollout of AI and its offshoots—machine learning, deep learning, neural nets of all types—will require significantly more processing power as the amount of data that needs to be processed continues to grow by orders of magnitude. What isn’t clear yet is how that will affect semiconductor manufacturing or how quickly that might happen. Your Next SoC Will Probably Include AI Acceleration. China has never had a real chip industry, but in making specialized AI chips, though, it’s got a head start. Today, selling custom chips for artificial intelligence is still a small business – the current market at $2.5 billion which is one half of one percent of the estimated value of the 2018 global semiconductor market). It could be worth $20 billion in 2021.
Heterogeneous processing: It used to be that the only processing device was an x86. Now almost all data centers have added both FPGA and GPU processors in various configurations. This heterogeneous approach is particularly apparent in AI/ML designs. This means that processors are no longer the one-size-fits-all answer for processing which means faster rate of innovation. Addition of multiple processing elements and memories is causing design challenges. System-on-chip (SoC) solutions continue to get more complex as more specialized hardware is added to optimize the SoC for new applications. Designers today are faced by a “whole system” problem: a problem of systemic complexity. Making Sure A Heterogeneous Design Will Work is hard. While existing tools still work well enough, no one has yet figured out the most efficient way to use them in a variety of new applications. A growing push toward more heterogeneity and customization in chip design is creating havoc across the global supply chain.
Equipment: After a period of record growth, the semiconductor equipment industry is facing a slowdown in 2019, in addition to several technical challenges that still need to be resolved. Both DRAM and NAND vendors are expected to push out their equipment orders. On the positive side, foundry vendors continue to ramp up their 7nm processes, propelling equipment orders in the logic space. Still, the demand for leading-edge and mature tools can’t make up for the downturn in memory. Total fab equipment spending in 2019 is projected to drop 8 percent.
Advanced nodes: Intel plans to ship products based on 10nm in the second half of 2019. TSMC and Samsung are ramping up 7nm, which is equivalent to Intel’s 10nm. 7 nm is important node. It’s becoming harder to prepare a wafer at advanced nodes. There are considerable challenges of planarizing a thin film on a wafer for etch and optical control at 7nm and beyond. Intel is working on 7nm and 5nm.
MEMS: Small but mighty, micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) were the driving force behind many of the most surprising devices at this year’s CES. MEMS are tiny machines made of components between 1 and 100 micrometers in size. Event-driven MEMS sensors consume no power while standing by. A triggering mechanical or thermal event closes a contact within the sensor to activate its circuitry and telemetry. Compared to traditional RF relays, RF MEMS switch technology can provide a relay replacement solution that is smaller, faster, more reliable, and use less power than conventional electromechanical relays.
Packaging: Although IC packaging industry braces for slower growth in 2019, advanced packaging remains a bright spot. Intel has demonstrated a new Foveros 3D ‘stacked’ packaging technology for face-to-face stacking of logic. Foveros extends the 3D packaging concept to include high-performance logic such as CPU, graphics, and AI processors.
Sensors: New sensors could vastly extend the reach of electronics, creating new markets and new opportunities within existing markets. The sensors market be segmented on the basis of technology, named as CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor), MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System), NEMS (Nano Electromechanical System) and others. It is expected to increase due to increasing adoption of sensors in automotive sector, escalating use of sensors in industrial products, strong demand for sensors in smart home and building applications, growing adoption of sensors in healthcare equipments, etc. Yet the market faces some challenges such as declining personal computers (PCs) shipments.
EDA: Digital circuit design is largely automated today, but most analog components still are designed manually. Analog electronics design is needed very much today, especially in IoT applications where same chips need to have both analogue and digital functionality. As analog design grows increasingly complex and error-prone, design teams and tool vendors are focusing on how to automate as much of the design of analog circuits as possible. We need new ways to find defects in multi-technology devices.
Power consumption: Today, information and communication technologies globally consume 8% of electricity and doubles every year. New low power technologies are needed in both hardware and software.
2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source from software and even hardware. It seems that it is the time for RISC-V to rise to the challenge. It is possible that there is a bright future for RISC-V, as the biggest concern isn’t even choosing “the core” as designers today are faced by a “whole system” problem. Open hardware/software platforms like Arduino and Raspberry Pi are inresingly important in many applications.
Compliance: The IEC 62368-1 standard represents an important transition for designers of ICT and audio-visual equipment because it is set to supersede the outgoing IEC 60950-1 and IEC 60065 electrical safety standards. It applies to to the end systems and also to components such as power supplies. The implementation date is by the December 2020.
289 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
NAND Flash Memory is on a Roll—Here’s Why!
https://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/nand-flash-memory-roll-here-s-why?NL=ED-005&Issue=ED-005_20190306_ED-005_334&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=23783&utm_medium=email&elq2=84959ed8f95849e99c969ef0f6878033
Nonvolatile technology is raising its game to respond to challenges posed by existing and emerging applications from automotive to IoT.
Smartphones and SSDs Dominate Current NAND Market
Today, although almost every embedded application contains a microcontroller with integrated flash memory for program storage, four types of applications drive the standalone NAND flash memory market (Fig. 2). The top four have a combined market share of over 90%, with the top two applications being responsible for 63% of sales.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cambridge Researchers Break New Ground in Printed Transistor Technology
https://blog.hackster.io/cambridge-researchers-break-new-ground-in-printed-transistor-technology-e159e7acf451
Building off of current organic printed transistors, their findings show that power consumption and noise characteristics show vast improvements.
Printed subthreshold organic transistors operating at high gain and ultralow power
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6428/719
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Design Approaches At 7/5nm
https://semiengineering.com/new-design-approaches-at-7-5nm/
Smaller features and AI are creating system-level issues, but traditional ways of solving these problems don’t always work.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chipmakers to scale up 96-layer 3D NAND flash output in 2Q19
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190305PD214.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global Semiconductor Sales Down 5.7 Percent Year-to-Year in January
https://www.semiconductors.org/global-semiconductor-sales-down-5-7-percent-year-to-year-in-january/
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $35.5 billion for the month of January 2019, a decrease of 5.7 percent from the January 2018 total of $37.6 billion and 7.2 percent less than the December 2018 total of $38.2 billion. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/03/07/spintroniikkaa-mikro-ohjaimeen/
Development of nonvolatile spintronics-based 50μW microcontroller unit operating at 200MHz
https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/press/research20190218_MCU.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/9180-mullistava-mikro-ohjain-spintroniikalla
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/9187-magnonielektroniikka-voi-korvata-nykyiset-piirit
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Expected to Regain Top Chipseller Ranking
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334414
The memory chip boom is over. And so, too, is Samsung’s time as the leading supplier of semiconductors by sales, according to market research firm IC Insights.
Thanks to a steep plunge in the memory market that is expected to drag Samsung’s sales down by 20% compared to last year, Intel will once again assume the mantle as the leading chipseller in 2019, IC Insights projects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Says It’s Shipping 28-nm Embedded MRAM
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334410
Samsung announced commercial production of its first embedded MRAM (eMRAM) product based on its 28-nm FD-SOI process.
The company said that its eMRAM module can easily be inserted at the back end of its 28FDS process
Tomi Engdahl says:
DRAM Prices in ‘Freefall’
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334411
Contract prices for PC DRAM are on pace to decline by 30% in the first quarter, the steepest decline in a single quarter since 2011, according to DRAMeXchange, a market research firm that tracks memory chip prices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip Market Downturn Begins in Earnest
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334399
After a three-year run of record chip sales, the widely expected semiconductor industry downturn appears to be at hand.
Chip sales fell sharply in January on both a sequential and annual basis, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization. It was the first year-to-year decline in chip sales for any month since July 2016.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Other Side Of Makimoto’s Wave
https://semiengineering.com/the-other-side-of-makimotos-wave/
Custom design is gaining ground against standardized approaches in a variety of new applications.
Custom hardware is undergoing a huge resurgence across a variety of new applications, pushing the semiconductor industry to the other side of Makimoto’s Wave.
Makimoto’s Wave
Observation related to the amount of custom and standard content in electronics.
https://semiengineering.com/knowledge_centers/standards-laws/laws/makimotos-wave/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s All This Subthreshold Stuff, Anyhow?
Operating transistors and ICs in the “leakage” zone lowers power consumption by an order of magnitude.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/what-s-all-subthreshold-stuff-anyhow?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20190307_ED-003_392&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=23852&utm_medium=email&elq2=a4285ef9bc4f4b85a13612553a436bd3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel nousemassa takaisin ykköseksi
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/9195-intel-nousemassa-takaisin-ykkoseksi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Expected to Recapture #1 Semi Supplier Ranking in 2019
Steep memory market plunge likely to push Samsung’s 2019 semiconductor sales down by 20%.
http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/Intel-Expected-To-Recapture-1-Semi-Supplier-Ranking-In-2019/
For 2019, a steep 24% drop in the memory market is forecast to pull the total semiconductor market down by 7%. With 83% of Samsung’s semiconductor sales being memory devices last year, the memory market downturn is expected to drag the company’s total semiconductor sales down by 20% this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel CPU shortages to worsen in 2Q19, says Digitimes Research
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190308VL202.html
Shortages of Intel’s CPUs are expected to worsen in the second quarter compared to the first as demand for Chromebooks, which are mostly equipped with Intel’s entry-level processors, enters the high period, according to Digitimes Research.
Digitimes Research expects Intel CPUs’ supply gap to shrink to 2-3% in the first quarter with Core i3 taking over Core i5 as the series hit hardest by shortages.
The shortages started in August 2018 with major brands including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell and Lenovo all experiencing supply gaps of over 5% at their worst moment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia to Buy Mellanox for $6.9B
https://semiengineering.com/nvidia-to-buy-mellanox-for-6-9b/
All-cash deal adds data-center chips to Nvidia’s portfolio.
Nvidia will use cash on hand to seal the deal, which is expected to close by the end of this calendar year.
The graphics processing unit (GPU) vendor reportedly outbid Intel, Microsoft, Xilinx, and others in pursuing Mellanox. Intel’s interest was widely rumored for several weeks. This deal increases the competition between Nvidia and Intel, which has a significant business in data-center computing.
The deal would be the biggest M&A transaction in the semiconductor industry since Renesas Electronics agreed last September to acquired Integrated Device Technology (IDT) for around $6.7 billion in cash, a deal that is expected to close later this year.
This is the largest acquisition in Nvidia’s history, which dates back to its incorporation in April 1993.
“They’ve never attempted an acquisition of this size,
He predicts, “Mellanox will run independent for a while.” Nvidia will likely maintain the Mellanox brand, while making it clear that the acquired company is a subsidiary.
Mellanox counts Alibaba Group, Dell Technologies, JD.com, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise among its customers, Zacks Equity Research notes. Dell and HPE each accounted for 12% of Mellanox’s 2018 revenue, which was $1.089 billion, up 26% from 2017.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Surpasses Samsung in Semiconductor Sales Revenue in Q4 2018, IHS Markit Says
Samsung maintains number one ranking in semiconductor sales for the total year 2018
https://news.ihsmarkit.com/press-release/technology/intel-surpasses-samsung-semiconductor-sales-revenue-q4-2018-ihs-markit-says%20
The declining market for semiconductors used in mobile handsets and enterprise servers led to a realignment in the company market-share ranking for semiconductor manufacturers. While Samsung led semiconductor sales for the past five quarters, Intel outpaced Samsung in the fourth quarter. Intel’s semiconductor sales revenue reached $18.4 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $15.8 billion for Samsung. While quarter-over-quarter Intel semiconductor sales declined by 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, Samsung fell 24.9 percent
“Samsung has traditionally been far more dependent on memory chip sales than Intel, so when mobile handset sales slowed dramatically last year, so did the company’s memory chip sales,”
Samsung still led overall 2018 sales
Samsung annual semiconductor revenue rose 20.3 percent, year over year, reaching $74.6 billion in 2018. Intel’s semiconductor revenue increased by 13.4 percent, to reach $69.9 billion. Nearly all (87 percent) of Samsung semiconductor sales in the fourth quarter were memory chips, compared to just 6 percent for Intel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Memory Device Can Take the Heat
A new memory device based on gallium nitride can operate at 300 degrees Celsius
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/new-memory-device-can-take-the-heat
Tomi Engdahl says:
Transphorm’s Gen III GaN Platform Passes AEC-Q101
https://www.electronicdesign.com/automotive/transphorm-s-gen-iii-gan-platform-passes-aec-q101?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20190314_ED-003_924&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=24042&utm_medium=email&elq2=c33316aa77a04279835899437b4d9fde
The company’s second line of automotive-qualified GaN FETs targets onboard chargers, dc-dc converters and dc-ac inverters.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trends In FPGA Verification Effort And Adoption: The 2018 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study
FPGAs are growing more complex, but are verification techniques keeping up?
https://semiengineering.com/trends-in-fpga-verification-effort-and-adoption-the-2018-wilson-research-group-functional-verification-study/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Budgets At 3nm And Beyond
Research is heating up at 3nm, and things are going to be very tight.
https://semiengineering.com/power-budgets-at-3nm-and-beyond/
There is high confidence that digital logic will continue to shrink at least to 3nm, and possibly down to 1.5nm. Each of those will require significant changes in how design teams approach power.
This is somewhat evolutionary for most chipmakers. Five years ago there were fewer than a handful of power experts in most large organizations. Today, everyone deals with power in one way or another. But at 3nm and 1.5nm, power is about to get significantly more complex for several key reasons.
First, noise will be a pervasive issue. At 3nm, the dielectrics will be less than 10 atoms thick. At 1.5nm, if that node actually happens, there will be even fewer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2.5D, 3D Power Integrity
Things to consider in advanced packaging.
https://semiengineering.com/2-5d-3d-power-integrity/
Chris Ortiz, principal applications engineer at ANSYS, zeroes in on some common issues that are showing up in 2.5D and 3D packaging, which were not obvious in the initial implementations of these packaging technologies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Memory Tradeoffs Intensify in AI, Automotive Applications
https://semiengineering.com/memory-tradeoffs-intensify-in-ai-automotive-applications/
Why choosing memories and architecting them into systems is becoming much more difficult.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Less Power At The Same Node
https://semiengineering.com/using-less-power-at-the-same-node/
When going to a smaller node is no longer an option, how do you get better power performance? Several techniques are possible.
No new nodes
A node migration may not make sense for several reasons. “From a cost perspective, an increasing number of designs are not migrating to lower nodes at the rate they used to,” says Sunil Bhardwaj, senior director of business operations for IP cores at Rambus. “Not all designs will see a cost advantage from moving to a lower technology, especially once mask set costs, IP cost, and wafer costs are considered. Very high-end performance and large size or high volume may be the few that continue to see advantages, offsetting the cost of a technology transition.”
And even with high-volume designs, reliability is becoming a growing problem at each new node. “Variation is one piece of this,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trends impacting the semiconductor industry in the next three years
https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/13536/trends-impacting-the-semiconductor-industry-in-the-next-three-years
Arguably, at no point in the history of electronics has so much change happened all at once than right now. Digital transformation, the proliferation of technologies enabling the smart city and smart factory, the advent of artificial intelligence and next-generation big data, the switch to connected and self-driving cars, and the launch of next-generation wireless cellular technology are rapidly transforming life.
https://www.globalspec.com/AdvancedEnergyIndustries/ref/TrendsImpactingtheSemiconductorIndustryintheNext3Years.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
CapEx Expected to Rebound in 2020
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1334418
The memory rollercoaster will drive spending on semiconductor capital equipment back up in 2020, the SEMI trade group projects in its latest report.
In our World Fab Forecast, we predict global fab equipment spending will decline 14% to $53 billion in 2019 and recover with 27% growth to $67 billion in 2020, setting a new record. Spurred by a slowdown in the memory sector, the 2019 downturn marks the end of a three-year growth run for fab equipment spending.
Over the past two years, memory accounted for an annual share of about 55% of all equipment, a proportion expected to drop to as low as 45% in 2019, rebound to 55% in 2020. With memory representing an outsize share of total spending, any hiccup in the memory market impacts overall equipment spending.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Stretchable Electronics Breakthrough Thanks to Carbon Nanotubes
https://www.designnews.com/materials-assembly/stretchable-electronics-breakthrough-thanks-carbon-nanotubes/201297123560372?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=7806&elq_cid=876648
Researchers at the University of Houston have improved the design of stretchable electronics to get them out of the lab and into the commercial market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip industry facing anemic growth
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2019/02/26/2003710392
BLEAK YEAR:However, Taiwan’s chip industry should outperform the global industry, an ITRI analyst said, adding: ‘We are not pessimistic about the nation’s chip industry’
The Taiwanese chip industry is expected to experience anemic year-on-year growth of 0.9 percent in production value this year, primarily as demand dwindles amid trade uncertainty and decelerating smartphones sales, the Taiwan Semiconductor Industrial Association’s (TSIA) latest report said
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Woeful World of Worldwide E-Waste
https://hackaday.com/2019/02/20/the-woeful-world-of-worldwide-e-waste/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What to Watch for at APEC 2019
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power/what-watch-apec-2019?Issue=ED-003_20190318_ED-003_847&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=24101&utm_medium=email&elq2=c627249ba9a84c548fc8ca6d7dc03033
The Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC) 2019 will take place in Anaheim, California March 19-21. Thousands of educators and professionals will travel to the Anaheim Convention Center for the event to explore how power electronics are changing in the industry.
Modular Design
Without a doubt, modular design has long been an industry trend across varying engineering disciplines.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy has, of course, been an emerging trend in power electronics. Renewable energy applications have relied on every fascet of power electronics can offer in recent years across all sectors, from agriculture to the grid.
Transportation
One topic that is marginally related to renewable energy is transportation. Electric vehicles continue to be a hot topic in the power electronics sector, and APEC will feature nine new papers specific to transportation.
Additional Highlights
APEC 2019 will feature professional sessions on other topics also, includes discussions on the best AC-DC, DC-DC, and utility-interactive converters. Sessions on other types of components will also be featured, including emerging inverters, motor drives, magnetic components, and devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Texas Instruments Introduces New Type of Linear Regulator
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power/texas-instruments-introduces-new-type-linear-regulator?Issue=ED-003_20190318_ED-003_847&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=24101&utm_medium=email&elq2=c627249ba9a84c548fc8ca6d7dc03033
Texas Instruments said that its latest linear regulator eliminates the need for a number of discrete components, resulting in around 75 percent higher efficiency and 100 percent more power density compared to competing products.
The company’s latest product, the TPS7A78
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps7a78.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Growing Challenge Of Thermal Guard-Banding
https://semiengineering.com/the-growing-challenge-of-thermal-guard-banding/
Margin is still necessary, but it needs to be applied more precisely than in the past.
Guard-banding for heat is becoming more difficult as chips are used across a variety of new and existing applications, forcing chipmakers to architect their way through increasingly complex interactions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Less Power At The Same Node
https://semiengineering.com/using-less-power-at-the-same-node/
When going to a smaller node is no longer an option, how do you get better power performance? Several techniques are possible.
Going to the next node has been the most effective way to reduce power, but that is no longer true or desirable for a growing percentage of the semiconductor industry. So the big question now is how to reduce power while maintaining the same node size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Budgets At 3nm And Beyond
https://semiengineering.com/power-budgets-at-3nm-and-beyond/
Research is heating up at 3nm, and things are going to be very tight.
There is high confidence that digital logic will continue to shrink at least to 3nm, and possibly down to 1.5nm. Each of those will require significant changes in how design teams approach power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Number of 300mm IC Wafer Fabs Expected to Reach 121 in 2019
http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/Number-Of-300mm-IC-Wafer-Fabs-Expected-To-Reach-121-In-2019/
IC Insights recently released its Global Wafer Capacity 2019-2023 report that provides in-depth analyses and forecasts of IC industry capacity by wafer size, by process geometry, by region, and by product type through 2023.
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. semiconductor industry cool to China’s offer to buy more chips as part of trade deal
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-semiconductor-industry-cool-to-chinas-offer-to-buy-more-chips-as-part-of-trade-deal-2019-03-18
U.S. companies say move would end up giving China more control over production
As U.S. officials press China to buy more than $1 trillion in American exports as part a trade deal, computer-chip makers are saying: Count us out.
U.S. semiconductor firms say they have told the Trump administration not to include them in any deal that calls for Beijing to step up purchases of American goods and services. Because U.S. production costs are so high, mandatory-purchase quotas would essentially force U.S. chip makers to open new factories in China, these companies say, potentially giving China more control over their production.
That, the companies say, would benefit their Chinese competitors and make the U.S. firms more dependent on Beijing.
Stocks are poised for an 18% hit, warns economist who nailed last financial crisis
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-are-poised-for-an-18-hit-warns-economist-who-nailed-last-financial-crisis-2019-03-18?mod=MW_story_top_stories
Gary Shilling has a knack for predicting turns in the economy. The former chief economist for Merrill Lynch did it in the 1960s. Again in 1991. And then, leading up to the financial crisis in 2008, he consistently warned the housing boom would turn to bust. We all know how that one turned out.
Now, he’s making another call.
“I give a business downturn starting this year a two-thirds probability,” he wrote in a Bloomberg News op-ed. “The recessionary indicators are numerous.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum dots: a more efficient and cheaper alternative to semiconductors
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/18609/20190318/quantum-dots-semiconductors.htm
Standford University researchers developed a technique in measuring the quality of quantum dots in comparison with single crystal semiconductors. Medical imaging tools, camera sensors, and solar panels are products in advanced electronics that use these single crystal semiconductors.
“Traditional semiconductors are single crystals, grown in vacuum under special conditions. These we can make in large numbers, in a flask, in a lab and we’ve shown they are as good as the best single crystals,” said David Hanifi, a Standford graduate student in Chemistry at Stanford and co-lead author of the paper written about this work, published March 15 in Science.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC seeing chip orders for Android devices ramp up
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190319PD203.html
Pure-play foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has started seeing chip orders for Android devices ramp up recently, with its fabless clients including HiSilicon, MediaTek and Qualcomm stepping up their pace of orders, according to industry sources.
In particular, the sources continued, TSMC has seen orders placed by HiSilicon for the second quarter outpace those placed by its other mobile SoC customers. HiSilicon is expected to provide as high as 70% of total smartphone chips demanded by Huawei.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia Mum on 7-nm GPU
Annual event focuses on Turing systems, software
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334447
Nvidia’s annual graphics event attracted some 8,000 attendees here, but one expected guest couldn’t make it — a 7-nm GPU.
A nearly three-hour keynote featured new systems and software for the company’s latest processors, announced last August. Ironically, the most interesting news nuggets were Nvidia’s cheapest board to date and a research project on optical interconnects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Micron sees memory chip recovery coming later in year, shares rise
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-micron-tech-results/chipmaker-micron-beats-revenue-estimates-idUSKCN1R12LV
U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc on Wednesday said it sees a recovery in the memory chip market coming and reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates as cost controls helped offset falling demand and prices, sending its shares up nearly 5 percent.
Micron makes NAND storage chips that are used in phones and internet servers as well as DRAM chips that help computer processors communicate with those storage chips.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Everything You Need to Know about FDSOI Technology
https://semiengineering.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-fdsoi-technology-2/
The advantages, disadvantages, and applications of FDSOI.
Semiconductor companies, such as ST Microelectronics, GlobalFoundries, Samsung and others, have introduced new innovations in silicon process technology to lower design complexity, reduce power requirements, and incrementally leverage their existing manufacturing capabilities. Fully Depleted Silicon on Insulator, or FDSOI, is a planar process technology that delivers the benefits of reduced silicon geometries while simplifying the manufacturing process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Celebrating 25 Years of Advanced Packaging Innovation: Part 1
https://www.3dincites.com/2019/03/celebrating-25-years-of-advanced-packaging-innovation-part-1/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Passive Component Technologies Shine at APEC 2019
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power/passive-component-technologies-shine-apec-2019?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20190319_ED-003_146&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=24150&utm_medium=email&elq2=c4260cd9c40a4aceb7fcee63366b3a53
Tomi Engdahl says:
The global shortage of capacitors impacts all consumer electronics
https://qz.com/1575735/a-mlcc-shortage-is-stifling-electronics-hardware-auto-makers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
First true 1000 A voltage regulator solution
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/promopages/Powering_Next_Gen_Processors/?redirId=103337
Infineon introduces industry’s first 16-phase digital PWM multiphase controller, XDPE132G5C, to its broad portfolio of high current system chipset solutions that enables currents of 500 – 1000 Amps and higher for next generation CPUs, GPUs, FPGA and ASICs used in high-end AI servers and 5G Datacom applications.
The XDPE132G5C is packaged in a 7mm x 7mm 56 pin QFN to accommodate 16 phases, employs a full digital and programmable loadline, and is PMBUS1.3/AVS compliant delivering a comprehensive suite of telemetry features.
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/9263-ensimmaisen-tuhannen-ampeerin-pwm-ohjain
Tomi Engdahl says:
IFTLE 407: Intel Lakefield Uses 3D Stacking; SEMI Europe’s 3D & System Summit
https://www.3dincites.com/2019/03/iftle-407-intel-lakefield-uses-3d-stacking-semi-europes-3d-system-summit/
At CES 2019, Intel previewed a new client platform, code-named “Lakefield”. It featured the first iteration of its new innovative Foveros 3D packaging technology. The Lakefield stacked module will contain:
10nm hybrid CPU architecture
Gen 11 graphics
Multiple dies stacked on top of each other
The die is then stacked using micro-bumps on the active interposer through which through silicon vias (TSVs) are drilled to connect with solder bumps and eventually the final package. This hybrid CPU architecture makes it possible to combine different pieces of IP, which might have previously been discrete, into a single module with a smaller motherboard footprint. This results in a thinner and lighter form factor. The module is just 12×12mm. Intel reports that Lakefield will be in production this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts February 2019 Billings
http://www1.semi.org/en/north-american-semiconductor-equipment-industry-posts-february-2019-billings
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Chip Packaging Simpler
https://semiengineering.com/making-chip-packaging-simpler/
The promise of advanced packaging is being able to integrate heterogeneous chips, but a lot of work is needed to make that happen.