Perspective of the Future Semiconductor Industry: Challenges and Solutions

The semiconductor industry currently faces serious challenges and changes on both the business and technology fronts. The business environment is becoming more difficult. The huge investment required for new fabrication facilities is forcing many IDMs (Integrated Device Manufacturers) to change their business model to either fablite or fabless. The significant costs to develop the next generation process technologies are necessitating joint development between various companies. Furthermore, due to severe competition in the mobile and digital consumer markets, low chip prices and short time-to-market are both essential for survival. To satisfy these market requirements, heavy R&D expenses and resources are needed. However, its return on investment is becoming marginal and even uncertain. To overcome this difficult situation, the industry is experiencing consolidation of once proudly independent companies. On the technical side, controlling chip yield, power consumption and design complexity have become extremely difficult in the nano-technology era. This talk will present a perspective on how the semiconductor industry must respond to these challenges by developing new markets, new products, and new technologies. The solutions will come from (i) collaborations with key customers for new markets and products, as well as, with key partners for new technologies, and (ii) technology breakthroughs with innovative ideas, such as 3-D package, fusion technologies (OneDRAM, OneNAND), variation-tolerant designs, and low leakage devices. These approaches can lead to lower chip costs and relieve physical uncertainty problems.