2020 IC Outlook: Uncertainty

By Mark LaPedus - 24 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

After a downturn in 2019, the semiconductor and equipment industries looked promising at the start of 2020. In 2019, the downturn was primarily due to the memory markets, namely DRAM and NAND. Both DRAM and NAND saw lackluster demand and falling prices last year. At the start of 2020, though, the memory markets were beginning to recover. Unlike memory, the logic and foundry markets were s... » read more

Impact Of Coronavirus Could Threaten Global Electronics Growth

By Walt Custer - 20 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

Data through December showed a steady recovery in the global electronic supply chain with SEMI equipment leading the way in 3/12 growth (Chart 1). The global purchasing managers index moved into expansion territory (PMI>50) in January indicating accelerating growth in world manufacturing activity (Chart 2). But in late January the Coronavirus (COVID-19) began to make its negative impact f... » read more

Using New Technologies On Smaller Wafers

By David Haynes - 20 Feb, 2020 - Comments: 0

The industry is no longer held captive by sales from computing applications, such as personal computers, servers or even cellular phones and tablets. A diverse range of markets are contributing to growth seen by Lam and our customers. Cloud storage, machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), robotics, medical and automotive, including the ... » read more

Semiconductor Equipment Growth Resumes For 2020

By Walt Custer - 23 Jan, 2020 - Comments: 0

The December Global Purchasing Managers Index was in zero growth territory (PMI = 50). However, the various country components varied significantly. With IHS Markit PMI data as a gauge of manufacturing activity, following are how some key electronics-producing countries and regions finished 2019. World Manufacturing Growth Flat to Start 2020 (Chart 1) To quote IHS Markit’s chief eco... » read more

Scaling Up And Down

By Nerissa Draeger - 21 Oct, 2019 - Comments: 1

You don’t have to look very far in the semiconductor world before you see the word “scaling.” Perhaps you read an industry news article headline about transistor scaling – how those nearly nanoscale components are shrinking even smaller in size down to the atomic scale. Or maybe you heard a reference to memory capacity scaling – how our favorite mobile devices can store more high-reso... » read more

Early 2020 Looks Promising For Semi Industry

By Walt Custer - 19 Sep, 2019 - Comments: 0

Reports of 2Q’19 financials from all of the major OEMs in our 213 company global sample show that their electronic equipment sales declined 1.4 percent compared to the same quarter of last year (Chart 1). This OEM group’s combined sales growth peaked in 2018 and then declined and was still falling in the second quarter of this year (Chart 2). Seasonality and currency exchange related ele... » read more

Impact Of U.S.-China Trade War

By Mark LaPedus - 23 May, 2019 - Comments: 0

The trade war between the United States and China is escalating and it is here to stay. Last year, the Trump administration started the trade war with China for basically two reasons. First, China has a massive trade surplus with the U.S. Second, U.S. companies have been the subject of IP theft in China, which has largely gone unchecked, according to the Trump administration. Many disagre... » read more

From Sand To Wafers

By Steve Proia - 18 Apr, 2019 - Comments: 1

More than most industries, ours is identified with a single element, silicon. Consider the self-adopted naming conventions of all the places that want to be recognized as members of the club—Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach, Silicon Forest and so on. Silicon wafers are fundamental in manufacturing the electronic “chips” that pervade almost every aspect of our lives. New applications in IoT, ... » read more

Fearless chip and fab tool forecasts

By Mark LaPedus - 24 Jan, 2019 - Comments: 1

2019 is expected to be a challenging, if not confusing, year for the semiconductor and fab equipment industries. For example, Apple recently issued a warning about lackluster smartphone demand, which impacted several IC vendors and foundries. Then, the memory market is plummeting. In addition, the 10nm/7nm transition has proven to be difficult for many. And let’s not forget the geopolitica... » read more

More Fabs, More Equipment Spending

By Christian Dieseldorff - 20 Sep, 2018 - Comments: 0

Global fab equipment spending will increase 14 percent this year to US$62.8 billion and is expected to rise 7.5 percent, to US$67.5 billion, in 2019, marking the fourth consecutive year of spending growth and the highest investment year for fab equipment in the history of the industry, according to the latest World Fab Forecast Report published by SEMI. Investments in new fab construction are a... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →

Knowledge Centers
Entities, people and technologies explored

Intel Vs. Samsung Vs. TSMC

Foundry competition heats up in three dimensions and with novel technologies as planar scaling benefits diminish.

by Ed Sperling

Partitioning In The Chiplet Era

Understanding how chiplets interact under different workloads is critical to ensuring signal integrity and optimal performance in heterogeneous designs.

by Ann Mutschler

3.5D: The Great Compromise

Pros and cons of a middle-ground chiplet assembly that combines 2.5D and 3D-IC.

by Ed Sperling

Legacy Process Nodes Going Strong

The critical, and growing, significance of mature node chips and processes.

by Bryon Moyer

AI’s Role In Chip Design Widens, Drawing In New Startups

Focus is on letting engineers do much more with the same or fewer resources — and less drudgery.

by Karen Heyman

Key Technologies To Extend EUV To 14 Angstroms

Alongside high-NA EUV will be better-performing photoresists, reduced roughness using passivation and etch, and lateral etching to reduce tip-to-tip dimensions.

by Laura Peters

Chip Industry Week In Review

Softbank's acquisition; advanced packaging funding; glass substrates; engineered copper wire; semi equipment set new record; HBM4; AI chips rake in funding; X-ray inspection; apprenticeships.

by The SE Staff

Memory Fundamentals For Engineers

eBook: Nearly everything you need to know about memory, including detailed explanations of the different types of memory; how and where these are used today; what's changing, which memories are successful and which ones might be in the future; and the limitations of each memory type.

by The SE Staff

tag: equipment