Materials analysis (MA), reliability analysis (RA) and failure analysis (FA) are increasingly needed by IC designers, wafer foundries and backend houses to support R&D projects on sophisticated and high performance computing (HPC) chips for 5G and AI applications, according to Danny Yu, chairman of Integrated Service Technology (iST), a Taiwan-based IC analysis and verification lab.
In a recent interview with Digitimes, Yu talked about the latest developments and prospects for the IC test and certification sector in 2020 and beyond.
Q: What are the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and US-China trade tensions on IC testing and certification sector and other semiconductor segments?
A: The trade war has prompted supply chains to shift orders or relocate to Taiwan, and many Taiwanese IC designers have enjoyed increasingly brisk chip demand for 5G, handset, server, and datacenter networking applications.
The pandemic is changing people's lives, and high HPC chips are badly needed to support remote work and learning and online video streaming. Data generated from cloud computing, high-speed transmission, IoV, and IoT all finally converge at datacenters operated by web giants including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, who are now major buyers of cloud-related chips and can drive the semiconductor supply chain to develop more HPC chips solutions.
As long as chipmakers sustain their R&D on ever-advancing HPC chips for 5G, AIoT, server and automotive electronics applications, IC test and verification labs will always have orders.
Q: How do you see the business prospect for IC analysis and certification labs in the second half of 2020 and beyond?
A: Orders received by iST hit a record high in July, and demand for IC analysis and certification services from our clients will stay robust throughout 2020 and even in 2021. Our second-half 2020 performance will continue to improve from the first half with gross margins picking up steadily.
We expect MA, RA and FA businesses to ramp up steadily in second-half 2020, as growing 5G, HPC, IoT and EV applications will stoke the R&D of a larger variety of chips solutions.
Our revenues will grow more significantly in the fourth quarter and will be even better in 2021 as we see no "dark clouds" ahead. And we expect business in China to improve next year.
Q: Would you talk more about the three analysis services?
A: The most important growth driver for our MA business is the robust demand from TSMC and equipment suppliers in its grand alliance. All domestic IC analysis labs are now busy processing MA orders from the foundry giant and its ecosystem partners as they continue pushing for more advanced processes.
iST enjoys an absolute advantage in the RA segment. Orders shifted to us from China and other areas since the first half of 2020 have kept us busy fulfilling RA shipments.
Usually, RA and FA services for large-size HPC chips with high unit prices have to be completed three months before volume production kicks off for such chips.
The number of chip products being developed by clients and the complexity of their chip designs matter the most to us. Our company, for instance, has as many as 600 kinds of analysis and test services for packaging chips on boards alone.
Q: Do you expect growing momentum from clients spending on IC analysis and certification?
A: As HPC chips involve increasingly complicated designs and require advanced fabricaton and packaging processes, first-tier IC design, foundry and pacakging houses are usually not hesitant to inject substantial resources into IC analysis and certification, particularly for HPC chips for AI, server and 5G handset applications. They are our diamond-class clients we are serving 24 hours a day.
Meanwhile, many clients are eager to have their chips analyzed and certified as soon as possible to achieve shortest time-to-market for their products, prompting them to spend even more on IC analysis and certification.
Q: How do you gauge the impact of the new US trade ban on Huawei?
A: Our subsidiary in China has seen 60% of revenues contributed by major Chinese system makers, and so do our peers. Indeed, we have obtained substantial orders from the leading vendor in China, but this cannot necessarily guarantee profitability due to low prices offered. We will choose to sell our Chinese subsidiary after raking a certain amount of earnings.
The US-China trade war is likely to intensify further in the future.
Q: How do you see the development trend for third-generation materials such as GaN and SiC?
A: GaN and SiC are really gaining importance as next-generation semiconductor materials, but they still contribute a rather small ratio of revenues to the entire IC analysis and certification sector. These components form a niche market segment, but few Taiwanese makers are capable of handling volume production.
Except for international IDMs, the entire supply chain for compound semiconductors GaN, SiC and IGBT remains incomplete, and Taiwan still lags one big step behind in this regard.
The supply chain for EV-use IGBT chips is actually disconnected in China, although many Chinese firms are seeking to enter the market by packaging foreign-sourced IGBT chips on their own. The market is still dominated by IDMs such as Infineon and Mitsubishi, with high threshold barring other players.
The Link LonkSeptember 08, 2020 at 09:07AM
https://ift.tt/32ahvVP
Chips R&D matters: Q&A with iST chairman Danny Yu - Digitimes
https://ift.tt/2RGyUAH
Chips
No comments:
Post a Comment