At Semicon China 2017, executives at chip giant Intel, IC
packager Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, equipment vendors ASML, Lam
Research and Tokyo Electron (TEL), and nano-electronics research
institute Imec talked about innovation to keep the Moore's Law relevant,
and China's fast-growing homegrown semiconductor industry.
Intel
VP Jun He and Imec CEO Luc Van den hove during their speeches focused
on the importance of Moore's Law - the ability to cram more transistors
on a single chip - in the IC industry development. He claimed Moore's
Law is the cornerstone on which the semiconductor revolution has been
based. Since ICs become an integral part of people's lives, from PCs and
mobile phones to data storage devices and the automotive industry, the
chipmaking industry's ability to extend the Moore's Law is critically
needed, He said.
Van den hove pointed out that the
industry "must" explore ways to keep the Moore's Law moving forward with
innovations, as it is no longer about geometric scaling. FinFET
transistor technology has extended the Moore's Law beyond 28nm, while
extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology is set to be ready to
enable a full 7nm node, Van den hove indicated.
The
Moore's Law concept has been reshaped to some extent, Van den hove said.
The complexity of semiconductor wafer designs is increasing, while
transistors continue to shink in size. The trend toward 3D-chip
manufacturing and design is already inevitable, Van den hove said.
TEL
CTO Sekiguchi Akihisa remarked that the efficiency of EUV light sources
has to be enhanced through collaboration between companies. An
ecosystem should be established to motivate cross-industry
collaboration, said Akihisa, who urged China- and Japan-based companies
to work together to accelerate EUV.
Lam Research CEO
Martin Anstice in his speech titled "Collaborating for Success"
expressed optimism about chip demand for emerging technologies in the
fields of Big Data, IoT, robotics, AI, AR and VR. Anstice also believes
that the semiconductor market still has huge room for growth since chip
demand has not reached its peak in the high performance computing and
mass storage device fields.
In addition, the
availability of EUV technology will further push forward the development
of the semiconductor industry, according to Anstice. And through 96
layers to 128-layer 3D NAND, the IC industry development will continue
to move forward.
Lam Research has stepped up its
investment in China, said Anstice. The company now has more than 20
projects implemented at customer sites with 4,000 units of equipment
already installed at fabs locally, Anstice indicated.
China
will be the main driving force behind the world's chip industry growth
over the next six years, according to ASE COO Tien Wu. China will expand
its fabless IC design sector's global presence to account for 42% of
the worldwide IC design industry output value in the foreseeable future,
said Wu.
China is also looking to expand its homegrown
IC foundry and IDM sectors, which will account for 25% and 20%,
respectively, of the worldwide industry output value, Wu indicated. The
booming IC industry in China will definitely benefit fab toolmakers and
materials suppliers, Wu added.
ASML president and CEO
Peter Wennink suggested that technology and talent remain key elements
enabling China's IC industry to catch up with its bigger international
peers. Wennink disclosed ASML is looking to work more closely with
China-based companies with its R&D centers in Shenzhen and Beijing.
ASML also has plans to help the country develop a talent pool with a
local center for training and education.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20170317PD201.html
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