Highlights 2025 Semicon 54 – 55 » Growing market size contrasts with shrinking chip size. How much further can miniaturization go? Are there limits to what is possible? Manocha: Miniaturization is an ongoing process. Since the dawn of the semiconductor industry, we have reached a point where the complexity of chips doubles every 18 months. This development has now slowed down, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture chips with a size of just two nanometers. Nevertheless, we will make further progress. Sooner or later, however, we will reach the physical limits of atomic size. Two nanometers correspond to 20 Angstroms, which is still a relatively large number. We may be able to get as far as 15 Angstroms and 10 Anstroms, but then the single- digit Angstrom range will be the absolute limit. » Growth usually also means increasing complexity in supply chains, and these have proven to be vulnerable in the past. Can AI help to avoid semiconductor supply bottlenecks? Manocha: At the moment, we are doing a lot of things physically. We have discussions with individual component manufacturers, distributors and PCB manufacturers and all the pieces of the puzzle begin to form a complete picture. I think that AI will help to automate this system too, so that everything is very well organized, and things run faster and better. When the chip shortage began, many of the suppliers and device manufacturers really had to think about where to get chips from. They didn’t even know which company actually manufactured the chip. All this information was either unknown or protected. With the help of AI as part of the entire process, many things will become easier, the market will become more transparent, and the entire value chain will be democratized. This will significantly strengthen supply chains and make them more resilient. » Do we need greater regionalization and a more even distribution of the global semiconductor industry? Manocha: There are currently a limited number of semi- conductor centers in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate and geopolitical issues have taught us that we are very vulnerable if we only produce semiconductors in a few regions of the world. I therefore believe – and I think that many of my colleagues in the industry would agree with me – that we would be better off opening up more regions in order to reach the targeted doubling of growth. That would result in global redundancies that make us less susceptible to risks. Ajit Manocha is President and CEO of SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International), the global industry association for the electronics manufacturing and development supply chain, headquartered in Milpitas, California. Manocha has more than 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. www.semi.org “AI will be the driver of semiconductor growth in the future.” Ajit Manocha Photo: SEMI The interview took place at SEMI in Milpitas, California, on November 7, 2024 – and was led by Damon Turley, Head of Sales Industry Segment ELA, Festo USA.
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