Semiconductor Critical Subsystems and Components Market

Hello and welcome to the fascinating world of Critical Subsystems! I'm guessing that's a term you've never heard of before!
Well this short film is going to explain what on earth they are, why you should care and how these technologies are helping to transform our way of life.
Imagine your typical daily routine...
You wake up...check your phone for the latest news...ask your home speaker for the traffic report...as you walk out the door to drive your car to work.
At work, you carry out your tasks on a desktop or laptop, accessing servers in the cloud... maybe you then order your lunch with a few taps on your phone
In the evening perhaps you relax by streaming and watching a film.
So, what do all these routine activities have in common? Well, they all use devices and infrastructure that run on microchips, or semiconductors, if we want to get technical.
But continually improving microchips to enable the latest tech advancements isn't easy and requires a complex supply chain to keep things moving. So, let's dive a little deeper into this supply chain and identify the key players.
Let's start with the technology giants you've all heard of... Apple, Google, Tencent and others. They buy the latest and fastest microchips for their products and services which they then sell to us (consumers and businesses).
They buy these microchips from large chip makers such as Intel, Samsung and Toshiba.
Now, in order to make the next generation of high-performance chips these companies need to continually upgrade the equipment they use.
The machines used to make microchips might look like uninteresting boxes, but the technology inside is so complicated, the chipmakers cannot make them alone and have to buy them from companies which specialise in developing the latest microchip manufacturing equipment.
Still with me?! ... we have just one more step to go!
Well, these equipment suppliers rely heavily on their own suppliers to provide them with the subsystems which make up the inner workings of the finished machines.
This is what we are really interested in telling you about.
These individual parts are what we call critical subsystems. Their functions are critical to the success of the process and many improvements in microchip devices start with these subsystems and components.
Let's take a quick look at some of these subsystems:
Robotics - which transport the microchips being built on silicon wafers through the equipment with amazing speed and accuracy.
Flow controllers - precisely controlling the flow of reactant gases.
Power supplies - delivering the exact amount of energy for the process.
Process diagnostics - which check in real-time that the process is working as it should.
And Vacuum pumps - which adapt the pressure to create the right conditions for the process
Other critical subsystem examples include Optics, Vacuum valves, Thermal controllers and Abatement systems.
The engineering of each of these critical subsystems is so complex that only an elite set of companies world-wide have the capability to produce them.
Thanks to a huge contribution from these guys the next generation of microchips on which our technology driven lifestyle depends upon can be made.
I hope you have learnt something new about one of the biggest... and most vital industries you've probably never heard of!
Next time you hear of the latest product release by Apple or Samsung... or maybe the first generation of fully autonomous cars, think of the critical subsystems suppliers that enabled this and who are helping innovative tech ideas to become a reality.