The Chip Insider®– SEMI ITPC and ISPS conferences

Summary:

ITPC 2023 and ISPS: SEMI’s signature conference for international trade partners started Sunday with an invitation-only prequel titled “International Semiconductor Policy Summit.” It was a historic meeting of companies and governments from around the world where a new level of understanding about our industry’s vital role was achieved by government officials. They heard about sustainability, workforce development, and supply chain resiliency. A critical milestone was reached when the officials … This and ITPC were proof points of the role SEMI plays in addressing issues beyond the scope of what companies or governments can solve alone. The challenges of sustainability, workforce development, supply chain resiliency, and geopolitical tensions speak to SEMI’s strength of being able to align all parties toward mutually positive resolutions.

ITPC started with global strategic perspectives about the industry's senior executives. … Ilsup Jin at SK hynix, delivered another highlight that demonstrated 3D DRAM feasibility, predicting their arrival by 2025 … Stuart Pann at IFS gave the best rationale for the relationship “Siliconomy” and Intel Foundry Services (IFS) that I’ve seen. Marco Pieters at ASML revealed what’s become the company’s true strength… Luc Van den hove introduced a new concept he calls the polycrisis... Prabu Raja of Applied Materials also talked to the “Mega-Drivers” for our industry, for which materials systems engineering offers major solutions.

The second day, titled ‘Growth & Prosperity’ focused on market trends and supply chain, featuring my fireside chat with John Chen of Nvidia, where he talked about integrating AI into semiconductor manufacturing and the positive implications for integration, yields, as well as workforce development. It concluded with a supply chain resiliency panel, where four executives unanimously agreed that Just in Case is not a solution because all it does is add costs customers are unwilling to pay for. At the same time, Just in Time doesn’t work either as the Great Shortage of 2021 proved. Instead, they concluded that the only sustainable solution was … The final day, titled ‘Technology & Innovation,’ had an all-star cast, starting with Terry Higashi of the Rapidus LSTC leading-edge technology center. Rapidus wants to …

Maxims: Strategic Inflection Point Identification

“The present is the new future … that where you sit … you create everything that’s going to come” – Sarah Jones