Semiconductor WEEK: An overview of results and conclusions from recent reports at VLSI.
Business is in full bloom• Order activity for semiconductor equipment hovered at a hot 96 degrees• All segments are now above 90 degrees with SOC Mobile and SOC Computing approaching triple-digit levels• VLSI’s Chip Price Performance Index soaredSemiconductor AnalyticsLast Week in the Semiconductor Market:Semiconductor sales held flat and were just above 2020’s peak level in the 1st quarter. Focusing on the DRAM market this week, the 13-week MA with 17% y/y growth shows this segment is smoking hot. It is also demonstrated by sales almost flatlining in a season that’s typically sinking. Last week, Auto ICs and Logic achieved the best y/y growth. NAND was slightly positive. Analog and Power were slightly negative.Semi Market results from last week: • Semiconductor Weather1 Report: Hot• IC Supply-Demand2 Metrics: Shortage• IC Wafer Fab Production +20% y/y• Electronics Prices are declining The Chip InsiderNone this weekChip History CenterPeople: In the early 2000s, a visionary team began to develop the first functional wafer fab AI decision making system under the leadership of one of the industry’s greatest manufacturing legends, Gary Heerssen. The team’s lineage was from TI’s and IBM’s fully automated fabs built in the seventies and eighties. They took the lessons they learned there to build a system that would enable them to compete against companies with five times their resources. The system they built was composed of 3 parts: advanced process control, integrated production scheduling, and yield management systems to keep a fab operating efficiently. Here are some video conversations about what they accomplished and where they were going: Originally taped in 2004, Thomas Sonderman discusses Automated Precision Manufacturing and how it allows a company to compete effectively in the semiconductor industry. The interview covers the IT needs in semiconductor manufacturing. Dick Deininger discusses Advanced Process Control technology in wafer fabs in this 2003 interview series. He also expands on how their partnership with IBM was helping them compete more effectively: Dick Deininger on Advanced Process Control Where is APC used? Semiconductor Stocks
