After a 6 percent drop in IC unit shipments in 2019 and an 8 percent increase in 2020, IC Insights forecasts a huge 21 percent jump in chip unit shipments this year. Unit shipments in 2021 are forecast to reach 391.2 billion, more than 11x the 34.1 billion units shipped over 30 years ago in…
President Biden on Wednesday signed, as expected, an executive order that paves the way for allocation of $37 billion federal government investment to address the chip supply shortfall. Industry reaction has been positive with both the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) immediately issuing statements showing relief that the…
A new front has opened in efforts to revive U.S. chip manufacturing as lawmakers propose billions of dollars in spending and tax incentives to promote technology innovation across the entire semiconductor ecosystem — from post-Moore’s Law basic research to advanced chip packaging. While the Trump Administration seeks to block China’s access to U.S. chip making…
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said it will build a 5nm fab in Arizona with support from that state and the U.S. federal government. The facility will have a 20,000 wafer-per-month capacity, create over 1,600 jobs directly and thousands more indirect jobs, the company said in a press statement today. The announcement comes following press…
Grim global semiconductor forecasts agree on a pandemic-driven market contraction, with the only variable being how steep and for how long chip demand and revenues will decline. As the unrelenting spread of the novel coronavirus and the resulting lockdown slow consumption and hobble global supply chains, forecasters continue to slash their growth forecasts across market sectors and applications. Demand…
Despite logistical, packaging and test challenges related to the coronavirus (now known as Covid-19), chip fabs located in China are continuing to function normally with high capacity rates, according to Omdia. The semiconductor industry appears to have escaped the direct impact of the Covid-19 crisis so far, but the market is likely to suffer the…
Without doubts, AI’s impact remains immense. Yole Developpement analysts estimate the 2024 total market for AI hardware computing for consumer applications to reach $15.6 billion. This market can be shared between two market segments: the stand-alone chip at $3.8 billion and the embedded one, especially supported by the smartphone, up to $11.8 billion. The market…
Despite a 38 percent sales decline expected this year, the DRAM market is forecast to remain the largest of all IC product categories in 2019 with sales reaching $62.0 billion, down from $99.4 billion in 2018. IC Insights believes the DRAM market will account for 17 percent of total IC sales in 2019. By comparison,…
In the highly competitive, fast-moving semiconductor manufacturing industry, strategic procurement is essential. When sourcing new and used chip equipment and parts, multiple factors must be considered, including reliability, ability to meet shipping dates, volume and price. The “best” supplier could be a major well-known name or a new provider that you haven’t purchased from yet.…
Significant change is coming to the manufacturing arena. As artificial intelligence, the industrial IoT and the smart factory begin to transform production, Intel Corp. is gauging the impact such technologies will have on manufacturing and the supply chain — and the humans that oversee these complex operations. The benefits of smart factories are many: autonomous…