Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


The European Union’s Chips Act Commission has approved €8.1 billion ($8.73 billion) in funding for an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI). As part of this IPCEI, 56 companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs') and start-ups, will undertake 68 projects in research, innovation, and deployment of microelectronics and communication technologies across th... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Nikkei Asia reports the U.S. is urging allies, including Japan, to restrict exports of advanced semiconductors and related technology to China. The U.S. holds 12% of the global semiconductor market, Japan has a 15% share, while Taiwan and South Korea each have about a 20% share. Some U.S. companies have called for other countries to adopt U.S.-style export curbs, arguing it is unfair for only A... » read more

Week In Review, Manufacturing, Test


The U.S. is attempting to restrict sales of ASML’s deep ultra-violet (DUV) litho systems to China, according to a report from Bloomberg. The U.S. has been working to limit China's access to advanced technology for some time, and it has already limited sales of extreme ultra-violet (EUV), which is used to develop chips at the most advanced process nodes. DUV, in contrast, is used for older-nod... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers, OEMs UMC plans to build a new fab next to its existing 300mm fab in Singapore. The new fab, called Fab12i P3, will manufacture wafers based on UMC’s 22nm/28nm processes. The planned investment for this project will be $5 billion. The first phase of this greenfield fab will have a monthly capacity of 30,000 wafers with production expected to commence in late 2024. To account fo... » read more

Covid Masks And Forecasts At Semicon


Semicon West 2021 was certainty different, if not surreal, this year. The annual event was held in-person from Dec. 7-9, although there is a virtual component that runs until Jan. 7, 2022. In comparison, Semicon West was an all-virtual event in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At this year’s in-person event in San Francisco, attendees, exhibitors and speakers were all required to wea... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Chipmakers Taiwan’s Foxconn continues to expand its efforts in the semiconductor business. Foxconn has acquired a 6-inch wafer fab and the equipment from Taiwan’s Macronix for NT$2.52 billion (US$90.76 million). With the fab, Foxconn plans to enter the wideband gap semiconductor market, namely silicon carbide (SiC). SiC devices are used in electric vehicles, a market that Foxconn is making... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


OEMs and chipmakers In recent times, automotive companies have been impacted by chip shortages, forcing vendors to temporarily shutter their plants. OEMs are experiencing manufacturing disruptions due to semiconductor shortages as some semiconductor foundries allocate production, according to IDC. "Semiconductor content growth in vehicles continues to outpace vehicle unit sales growth, with gr... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research What’s in store for the IC market in 2020 and 2021? Here’s the latest IC forecasts from IC Insights, Semico, Semiconductor Intelligence, WSTS and others. “We at Semiconductor Intelligence find it difficult to expect much of an increase in the world semiconductor market in 2020. However, the strength of the PC market and the relatively optimistic 3Q 2020 guidance of severa... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Arm plans to double down on its core IP business and transfer its two IoT Services Group (ISG) businesses, IoT Platform and Treasure Data, to new entities that would be owned and operated by SoftBank. “SoftBank’s experience in managing fast-growing, early-stage businesses would enable ISG to maximize its value in capturing the data opportunity," said Arm CEO Simon Segars. "Arm would be in a... » read more

Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test


Market research What are the hot chip markets for 2020? IC Insights released its rankings of sales growth rates for each of the 33 IC product categories defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization. “After posting the two worst growth rates among all IC product categories in 2019, NAND flash and DRAM are forecast to be among the top three fastest-growing IC segment... » read more

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