Washington Takes Key Steps to Bolster U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing And Supply Chains


Recent semiconductor supply chain constraints have drawn the attention of Washington policymakers at every level. Exasperated by the global pandemic, customers of semiconductor manufacturers have sounded the alarm about the chip shortage and the downstream consequences for end-user companies and consumers. Global automakers have suffered the brunt of the impact, shuttering factories and slashin... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and several chip executives have sent a joint letter to President Biden, urging the administration to include substantial funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research in the U.S. As reported, the share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity in the U.S. has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. “Semiconductors pow... » read more

Data Issues Mount In Chip Manufacturing


For yield management systems the old calculation adage, "garbage in/garbage out" still rings true. Aligning and cleaning data remains a dirty business. With the increased value in data in the semiconductor supply chain, there now are essentially two supply chains running in parallel. One involves the physical product being created, while the other includes the data associated with each proce... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Packaging and test Intel has invested an additional $475 million in its chip assembly and test manufacturing facility in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in Vietnam. This takes Intel’s total investment in the Vietnam facility to $1.5 billion. The site assembles and tests Intel’s 5G products and processors. TSMC recently announced a huge increase in capital spending for 2021. A large perce... » read more

Too Much Fab And Test Data, Low Utilization


Can there be such a thing as too much data in the semiconductor and electronics manufacturing process? The answer is, it depends. An estimated 80% or more of the data collected across the semiconductor supply chain is never looked at, from design to manufacturing and out into the field. While this may be surprising, there are some good reasons: Engineers only look at data necessary to s... » read more

Using Analytics To Reduce Burn-in


Silicon providers are using adaptive test flows to reduce burn-in costs, one of the many approaches aimed at stemming cost increases at advanced nodes and in advanced packages. No one likes it when their cell phone fails within the first month of ownership. But the problems are much more pressing when the key components in data warehouse servers or automobiles fail. Reliability expectations ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research For some time, China has faced an enormous trade gap in semiconductors. In response, China has been developing its semiconductor industry with plans to make more of its chips. But China is expected to fall far short of its “Made in China 2025” goals for IC production, according to IC Insights. “IC Insights forecasts China-produced ICs will represent only 19.4% of its I... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Trade and government The U.S. continues to tighten its export controls for hi-tech, including a move to restrict fab technologies that enable 5nm chip production. The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed controls on six more technologies, bringing the total to 37. They include: hybrid additive manufacturing/computer controlled tools; computational lithography software designed for EUV masks... » read more

Much Smarter Manufacturing


Smart manufacturing is undergoing some fundamental changes as more sensors are integrated across fabs to generate more usable data, and as AI/ML systems are deployed to sift through that data and identify patterns and anomalies more quickly. The concept of smart manufacturing — also referred to as Industrie 4.0 in Europe, for the fourth industrial revolution — emerged from the World Econ... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Top stories Here's the latest from Reuters: ''The United States has imposed restrictions on exports to China’s biggest chip maker SMIC after concluding there is an 'unacceptable risk' equipment supplied to it could be used for military purposes." What does this all mean? “The press has reported that on Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce placed restrictions on China's largest semicondu... » read more

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