Worldwide semiconductor revenue declined 3 percent in 2012

USA: Worldwide semiconductor revenue has totaled $298 billion in 2012, a 3 percent decline from 2011 revenue of $307 billion, according to preliminary results by Gartner Inc.

The top 25 semiconductor vendors' revenue declined 4.2 percent, more than the industry average, and accounted for a smaller portion of the industry's total revenue — 68.2 percent in 2012, compared with 69.2 percent in 2011.

The industry was expected to show little growth in the early part of 2012, although order rates were expected to creep up in the second half, paving the way for a recovery phase in 2013. However, the expected renewal did not occur in 2012. Third quarter order rates were below seasonal expectations, and guidance for the fourth quarter of 2012 forecast further declines.

"Uncertainty about the state of the macroeconomy, coupled with ongoing inventory overhang, sent ripples through the semiconductor industry," said Steve Ohr, research director at Gartner. "The hardest hit areas include the PC supply chain, memory, analog and discrete components. The PC business, ordinarily a growth driver, was on a negative slope for the first time in many years. PC production declined 2.5 percent in 2012. Even the smartphone juggernaut had begun to show signs of maturing, though it remained the strongest driver for revenue growth in 2012."

Intel recorded a 2.7 percent revenue decline (see Table 1), mostly due to declining PC sales. However, the company did hold onto the No. 1 market share position for the 21st consecutive year, capturing 16.6 percent of the 2012 semiconductor market, its best performance ever.

Table 1. Top 10 Semiconductor Vendors by Revenue, Worldwide, 2012 (Millions of Dollars)

Source: Gartner (Dec. 2012).|

At No. 2, Samsung Electronics saw its semiconductor revenue fall due to declines in its three major product areas, DRAM, NAND flash and system integrated circuit (IC). Bucking the industry trend and rising three places to No. 3, Qualcomm attributed its 29.6 percent growth to continued adoption of smartphones and the growth of 3G and LTE technology in emerging regions, such as China and India.

The only other top 10 semiconductor vendor to record positive growth in 2012 was Broadcom, which rose from the 10th to the ninth position with growth of 8.8 percent. While part of the company's year-over-year performance gain was attributed to the acquisition of NetLogic Microsystems, the highest organic growth in the company was once again achieved by the Mobile and Wireless division, which grew close to double digits. Broadcom's third division, Broadband, bounced back from a revenue decline in 2011 by growing in the mid single digits in 2012.

As a group, memory makers suffered the most. DRAM makers suffered from rapid price declines, while the NAND flash market also saw strong price declines as a consequence of sluggish bit growth. Overall, Samsung's semiconductor revenue was down 8.7 percent, and SK Hynix's was down 11.2 percent.

RFaxis launches CMOS single-chip/single-die 802.11ac RF front-end IC

USA: RFaxis, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company focused on innovative, next-generation RF solutions for the wireless connectivity and cellular mobility markets, announced it has started sampling its latest 5GHz 802.11ac RF Front-end IC (RFeIC), the RFX5010 to strategic customers and reference design partners.

RFaxis will showcase the RFX5010 and additional new products, including its dual-band/dual-mode CMOS RFeIC, at the upcoming 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 8-11 in Las Vegas.

The RFX5010 is the latest addition to the company's rapidly expanding pure CMOS-based single-chip/single-die RFeIC product family that supports Wi-Fi applications across all existing and newly added protocols including IEEE 802.11b, g, a, n, and ac, for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands.

The RFX5010 chip provides more than 30 dB gain and 15dBm output power at antenna with -35dB EVM for 802.11ac MCS9 with 256-QAM modulation and 80MHz channel bandwidth. It is pin-compatible with the company's 11a/n RFeIC, the RFX5000, which is in production and slated for volume shipment in Q1 2013.

RFaxis will shortly be launching a new, higher power 802.11ac RFeIC which is pin-compatible with RFX5010 and RFX5000, and will be targeting the 802.11ac AP, wireless router and outdoor hotspot markets.

"By continuously pushing the envelope to achieve superior performance, higher integration and lower cost, RFaxis is now able to redefine the competitive landscape for 802.11ac. We recognize Wi-Fi industry's rapid move towards 11ac products that offer users enhanced wireless experience with higher data throughput, extended operating range and longer battery life,” said Mike Neshat, chairman and CEO of RFaxis.

“Built upon RFaxis' patented single-chip/single-die RFeIC architecture and new design innovations, our engineering team has delivered a pure-CMOS RFeIC with full 802.11ac support. We are pleased to offer our customers and partners world's best-in-class 802.11ac RF front-end solution at a price point substantially lower than existing legacy 802.11a/n front-end solutions offered by our competitors."

MonolithIC 3D shows 3D-ICs can be effectively cooled

USA: MonolithIC 3D Inc., presented a paper at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) showing that effective cooling of 3D-ICs can be made possible by utilizing the circuit’s power delivery networks* (PDNs) and the high density of vertical connections enabled by monolithic 3D stacking. The paper, co-authored with Stanford University, was delivered by doctoral candidate Hai Wei at IEDM in San Francisco, CA on December 11th, 2012, and titled “Cooling Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits Using Power Delivery Networks".

Heat removal from the stacked layers of 3D ICs has been an industry issue for many years, and has been thought to be a limiter on the types and performance of circuits that can be stacked. As well, hot spots in the stacked layers have been identified as a challenge in 3D integration and stacking. The efficient removal of device generated heat can be exacerbated by the thin silicon layers and islands utilized by the fully depleted (FD) devices that the industry is rapidly moving towards.

Wei and fellow graduate student Tony Wu, part of Professor Subhasish Mitra’s group at Stanford, guided by Prof. Mitra and Professor Fabian Pease, performed a comprehensive analysis that quantifies the impact of PDNs on the thermal profile of 3D ICs over a variety of 3D integration methods, application power densities and temperature constraints, and density of vertical interconnects.

One important result of their comprehensive work was thermal analyses of core-on-core and memory-on-core designs utilizing the OpenSPARC T1. They showed that the processor can be effectively cooled, with no hot spots, using PDNs in a monolithic 3D configuration.

“We are grateful to Professors Mitra and Pease for their belief in the importance of monolithic-sequential 3D IC and embarking on this important ground breaking research,” says Brian Cronquist, co-author and VP Technology & IP at Monolithic 3D Inc. “Hai and Tony did a thorough job of investigating the influence of the PDNs and the effect of the density and size of the inter-layer vias.”

The paper analyzed the heat removal effects of the sparse and large sized vertical interconnect called Thru Silicon Vias (TSVs) and of the greatly increased density of vertical interconnect afforded by monolithic 3D techniques, which is on the order of millions to tens of millions per square centimeter. An analysis framework has been constructed that can be adapted for exploring technology-circuit-application interactions for a wide variety of 3D technologies, cooling options, and PDN designs.

MonolithIC 3D Inc.’s President and CEO, Zvi Or-Bach, said: "We are pleased that our continued innovation efforts and collaboration with Stanford University has achieved an important result for the industry. Monolithic 3D is now not limited by heat as device generated heat can be effectively carried to the heat sink through the properly designed power delivery networks leveraging the dense vertical interconnects enabled by monolithic 3D IC technology.”

The IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) is the world’s pre-eminent forum for reporting technological breakthroughs in the areas of semiconductor and electronic device technology, design, manufacturing, physics, and modeling. In this year’s conference there is an increased emphasis on circuit and device interaction. Outstanding research results covering design and fabrication of semiconductors, modules and devices are published at IEDM each year. Only 203, out of over 600 submitted, papers have been selected for 2012 IEDM.

Elliptic selects Synopsys' Discovery VIP for ARM AMBA interconnect

USA: Synopsys Inc. announced that Elliptic Technologies, a technology leader in embedded security solutions for mobile, networking, smart grid and automotive markets, successfully deployed Synopsys' Discovery Verification IP (VIP) for the ARM AMBA protocol for verification of its new-generation Multi-Packet Manager security protocol accelerator (CLP-630). Elliptic cited performance, efficient ease-of-use and smooth deployment as some of the key benefits of Discovery VIP.

"The embedded security market demands delivery of error-free, rigorously verified security accelerators and processors," said Patrick Offers, vice president of engineering at Elliptic. "After evaluating several verification IP solutions for the verification of our AMBA interfaces, we determined that Synopsys' Discovery VIP was the best solution, allowing us to achieve our verification requirements while offering excellent ease-of-use and outstanding support."

Synopsys' Discovery VIP, based on the next-generation VIPER architecture and implemented in 100 percent SystemVerilog, offers enhanced performance, configurability, portability, debug, coverage and extensibility. Discovery VIP supports Synopsys' Protocol Analyzer, a protocol-centric debug environment with intelligent visibility into VIP source code. These capabilities substantially increase designer productivity for one of the most difficult and time-consuming aspects of functional verification.

"Synopsys' Discovery VIP for the ARM AMBA protocol continues to accelerate the verification of high-performance, leading-edge system-on-chips (SoCs)," said Debashis Chowdhury, VP of R&D for the Synopsys Verification Group. "Discovery VIP's advanced protocol and verification features help meet verification challenges of AMBA-based products like Elliptic's Multi-Packet Manager security accelerator SoC."

Worldwide semiconductor sales to reach $311 billion in 2013

USA: Worldwide semiconductor revenue is projected to total $311 billion in 2013, a 4.5 percent increase from 2012 revenue, according to Gartner Inc. Due to economic headwinds and an inventory correction, the fourth quarter projections have been revised down from the previous quarter's forecast of $330 billion.

Analysts have also reduced growth predictions for 2012 with semiconductor revenue expected to total $298 billion, down 3 percent from 2011. Gartner's third quarter forecast had put revenue at $309 billion for 2012, which would have meant an increase of 0.6 percent from 2011.

"The looming fiscal cliff, ongoing European debt crisis, slower emerging market growth and regional tensions have all played a part in reduced growth projections for semiconductor revenue in both 2012 and 2013," said Peter Middleton, principal analyst at Gartner. "Inventory levels were already high at the start of the second half of 2012, and as PC demand rolled off, supply simply overshot demand."

The semiconductor market was further depressed when DRAM prices failed to rebound in 2012. Gartner predicts that the DRAM market will not recover until the second half of 2013, when lower supply growth is expected to pull the market into a period of undersupply. This should prove a turning point for the semiconductor industry; memory is expected to lead the recovery with 15.3 percent growth and total semiconductor revenue is projected to reach $342 billion in 2014, an increase of 9.9 percent from 2013.

The "Apple effect" is expected to remain pronounced in 2013, helping drive strong NAND and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) revenue growth of 17.2 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. Gartner counts the A4, A5 and A6 application processors from Apple as ASICs, because these are custom processors, designed and solely used by Apple. ASICs will also benefit from the new generation of video game consoles being introduced in late 2012 and 2013.

PC production will decline 2.5 percent in 2012. In 2013, total PC production is expected to remain weak; however, ultramobile PCs will grow strongly off a small base. The challenging economic environment has contributed to PC life cycle extension, in addition to users extending the life of their PCs as they adopt tablets.

Mobile phone production growth in 2012 and 2013 is predicted to soften overall as the tough economy reduces short-term demand for phones. However, the forecast for utility/basic smartphones has been increased, largely at the expense of traditional phones. In particular, adoption of Android-based entry-level smartphones in emerging regions continues to accelerate and will be a key growth driver. Worldwide smartphone unit production growth in 2013 is forecast to be 33 percent.

Media tablet production is also forecast to grow in 2013, rising 38.5 percent to 207.1 million units, up from the third quarter forecast of 169.8 million units. The success of the Amazon Kindle Fire, Google Nexus 7 and Apple iPad Mini illustrate the large opportunity for smaller tablets at the right price, while the white-box tablet market is stronger than anticipated, boosting the overall forecast.

Embedded imaging takes off as stand-alone digital cameras stall

USA: It took digital cameras less than 10 years to virtually eliminate film photography from the consumer market in the last decade.  Almost as quickly, camera-equipped cellphones have played a major role in ending the meteoric rise of stand-alone digital cameras.

For most consumers, camera phones have become more than adequate for taking photographs and capturing video clips.  In 2012, camera phones with 3Mpixel or greater image sensors were outselling stand-alone digital still cameras by a 6:1 ratio, according to IC Insights’ new 2013 edition of IC Market Drivers—A Study of Emerging and Major End-Use Applications Fueling Demand for Integrated Circuits.

With camera phones proliferating and making it easy to instantly share digital photos over the Internet or share as attachments to transmissions, annual revenues for stand-alone digital cameras have been on the decline since 2007. Worldwide unit shipments of digital still cameras, which peaked in 2011 at 142 million systems, are expected to decline 3 percent in 2013 to 133 million after falling 4 percent in 2012, says the new IC Market Drivers report.

The lack of digital camera growth has shifted a great deal of the IC industry’s attention in digital imaging from stand-alone photography products to new applications and embedded systems, such as enhanced machine vision for automotive safety and industrial equipment, intelligent video surveillance networks, medical imaging, and small camera modules for smartphones, tablet computers, and other portable devices.

The total market value for digital cameras and imaging systems is expected to grow from $55.5 billion in 2012 to $77.8 billion in 2016.  In doing so, this market will shift from being heavily dependent upon stand-alone cameras to being more evenly spit across several end-use equipment segments.

In the new report, IC Insights forecasts total shipments of digital cameras and embedded imaging systems will reach 6 billion units in 2016 compared to 2.5 billion in 2011, which represents a CAGR of 19 percent in the five-year period.

IC revenues for embedded digital cameras and imaging systems—excluding stand-alone cameras—are expected to reach $24.6 billion in 2016 and grow by a CAGR of 16.2 percent from $11.6 billion in 2011. In contrast, IC sales for stand-alone digital cameras are expected to remain nearly flat in the forecast period, slipping to $10.1 billion in 2016 compared to $10.3 billion in 2011, which is a CAGR decline of 0.6 percent, according to the 2013 report.

Semiconductor suppliers won’t see bright holiday season

USA: Pressure from a weak global economy will cause global semiconductor revenue to shrink by year-end, erasing the gains made by the industry last year, according to an IHS iSuppli Semiconductor Manufacturing & Supply Market Tracker Report.

Semiconductor silicon revenue will close the year at $303 billion, down 2.3 percent from $310 billion in 2011. The projected decline comes in contrast to the 1.3 percent gain made last year.

This year will end on a decline, with worldwide semiconductor revenue set to decrease by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the third, as shown in the figure attached, which presents the IHS forecast from November.

“The global economy continues to be the most critical variable affecting the semiconductor space both this year and the next, especially because the chip industry is highly dependent on consumer spending,” said Len Jelinek, director and chief analyst of semiconductor manufacturing at IHS. “And until consumers believe their financial position is stable or improving, consumer spending will likely remain soft.”

The complete reversal in growth is indicative of how distressing conditions have become for the industry, and the downward pressure on sales has not eased. With final numbers yet to come in, fears abound that industry revenue could decline even more than currently predicted in the fourth quarter, if economic conditions do not improve.

Taking inventory
The level of semiconductor inventory is a significant concern. Adding to widespread worries, the industry has not been able to reduce inventory within the channel or at chip suppliers. Given the excess inventory, end-equipment manufacturers have been delaying the placement of orders for additional components.

The result on the whole is that chip suppliers aren’t running their manufacturing operations optimally, and also are manufacturing products solely based on historical demand. In some instances, projected demand does not materialize as well, adding to the already slow-moving inventory pile.

Holiday letdown
As the year ends, the market finds itself at a difficult juncture, with no significant drivers in sight that will increase demand for silicon suppliers during the near term. All of the initial orders for manufacturing electronics systems that were anticipated for the holiday selling season have already been completed. And while the next opportunity for increased silicon demand will take place at the end of November when companies reorder components, market demand at that time will be small.

2013 rebound
Prospects brighten next year, with silicon shipments tentatively expected to climb late in the first quarter, when companies achieve equilibrium between inventory and demand. That, however, is more than three months away—and anything could still happen to further derail the fragile growth scenario.

Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.

Major semiconductor investment and R&D center expansion to continue at Samsung's Austin facility

USA: Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC announced that a $4 billion investment at its Austin, Texas, site is on schedule for production of state-of-the-art mobile application processors within the second half of 2013.

The remodeled fabrication line will produce state-of-the-art mobile application processors on 300mm wafers at the 28 nanometer process node. The new boost in production will occur within the second half of 2013 and is expected to alleviate the rapidly growing demand for application processors for mobile devices.

Along with new renovations from the fabrication front, Samsung’s local research branch, Samsung Austin Research Center, also grew its presence with about 200 engineers dedicated to design and development of the latest technologies for mobile application processors.

"Our ongoing, multi-billion dollar investments in Austin will expand our footprint as a comprehensive semiconductor hub and demonstrate our strong commitment to manufacturing, research and development in the United States," said Woosung Han, president of Samsung Austin Semiconductor.

Samsung’s campus in Austin currently employs 2,500 direct employees, of which 300 are highly skilled military veterans recently brought on board as engineers and technicians. Moreover, the vast scope of the fabrication operation calls for a strong network of vendors, leading to employment of over 2,500 indirect contract employees.

Samsung's investment in Austin marks the largest foreign investment ever made in the state of Texas by far. The company's total investment in Samsung Austin Semiconductor since 1996 will reach $11 billion by year’s end and including the recently announced $4 billion investment, it will exceed $15 billion.

Dongbu HiTek penetrates Chinese smart phone market

KOREA: Dongbu HiTek announced that it has scored two big wins in the Chinese smart phone market, naming Beijing-based Tianyu Communication Equipment Company and Shenzen-based Skyworth Group as new customers. The Korean provider of specialty ICs confirmed that it has initiated volume shipments of advanced touch-screen controller chips to both companies.

The touch-screen controllers destined for China specify a 300 Hz frame rate, some three times faster than previous generation smart phones. This faster rate facilitates touch-drawing of continuous figures on screen without interruption. The controllers also enable 10-finger multi-touch capability for playing on-screen instruments such as a piano. Moreover, the controllers conserve power as they draw only 2.5 mA compared to 10 mA for previous generation phones (based on 80 Hz frame rate). These advanced chips are ideal for use with 4.3-, 5.0- and 7.0-inch smart-phone screens.

According to Dongbu HiTek, the two wins disclosed today are significant as they mark the Korean company’s major penetration into serving the broader Chinese market. While continuing product development efforts with both Tianyu and Skyworth in the smart phone segment, the company aims to expand its business in China with advanced touch-screen controllers now under development for tablet PCs and laptops.
     
Dongbu HiTek’s touch-screen controllers deploy a projected capacitive (pro-cap) technology as opposed to a resistive type. Pro-cap technology yields significant benefits, the most significant being: high durability for long product life; high transmissivity for excellent optical performance; and “unlimited touch” for discerning and processing simultaneous touches.

According to iSuppli, the pro-cap type of touch-screen controllers will command 70 percent of a $1.5 billion market in 2012 and continue to maintain this lion’s share as the market reaches $1.6 billion in 2015.

ST's ultra low-power devices enhance portable technology

SWITZERLAND: STMicroelectronics has leveraged its advanced design and manufacturing capabilities to create a new generation of accurate low-power components enabling greatly improved energy efficiency and faster operation of equipment such as gas sensors, medical devices, safety systems and industrial controls.

The TS881 is the first in ST's new generation of comparators compatible with supply voltages as low as 1.1V over a wide temperature range, enabling longer operating times with smaller batteries. Suitable for use in front-end detection and measurement circuitry, the TS881 is also faster than competing devices, allowing a significant reduction in equipment response times.

Leveraging ST's innovations in analog design, with very low operating current of 210nA (typical at 25°C), the TS881 draws less than half the current of competing devices. Moreover the push-pull output circuitry reduces power consumption to the absolute minimum when driving any capacitive or resistive load.

The TS881 will be joined in 2013 by dual and quad variants containing two and four comparators in a single package. This new generation of devices extends ST's industry-leading portfolio of comparators, which includes the TS3011, announced in 2011, delivering the market's fastest response time of 8ns with very low current consumption.

Major features of TS881:
* Typical operating current: 210nA (@ 25°C)
* Typical propagation delay: 2µs
* Temperature range: - 40°C to + 125°C
* Operating voltage range: 1.1V to 5V (1.1V operation guaranteed over full temperature range)
* ESD tolerance: 8kV HBM (Human Body Model)
* Rail-to-rail input
* Push-pull output.

The TS881 is in production now and available in the 2 x 1.25 mm SC-70 package, priced from $0.39 for orders over 1,000 pieces. Alternative pricing for higher quantities is available on request.

Intermolecular joins GSA

USA: Intermolecular Inc. has become a member of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the voice of the global semiconductor industry.

The cost of R&D rises exponentially as the industry moves toward the production of ever smaller devices requiring new materials and device architectures. Intermolecular uses disruptive High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) workflows to increase R&D productivity by 10-100 times, allowing customers to enhance product performance, mitigate development risks, and reduce time-to-market.

"We work with leaders in the semiconductor industry on the development of new materials, processes, and device intellectual property," said David Lazovsky founder, president, and CEO of Intermolecular. "Our current workflows are being used to accelerate R&D for both logic and memory devices, from 65nm- down to the 10nm-node. Since we're involved with leading semiconductor companies, it is natural for us to join a leading organization like GSA."

Intermolecular's mission is to drive customers' success by transforming R&D and accelerating innovation in markets that derive competitive advantage from the interaction of materials science, processes, integration and device architecture. Intermolecular's HPC workflows have accelerated the development of next-generation devices, and have rapidly improved the yield of devices from existing manufacturing lines.

"We feel that the timing is excellent for Intermolecular to join the GSA," said Jodi Shelton, co-founder and president of GSA. "Intermolecular helps technology companies increase their productivity so that they can bring better products to market faster. With escalating R&D costs for our member companies, Intermolecular's disruptive approach should be of great interest."

Semico's IPI points to 0.3 percent growth in 4Q12

USA: Semico is releasing its final IPI report for 2012, and the IPI chart is showing that 1Q13 will be slightly stronger than seasonal expectations.

From an end-use perspective, we continue to see good growth in mobile and cloud related products driving semi demand.  We're keeping a close eye on the whole semiconductor supply chain, and this month's IPI report discusses how 2012 has reshaped the computing industry and the consequences of those changes.