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The semiconductor industry is one of the most strategic industries today globally in terms of the impact it has on national economies as well as our daily lives in our homes and workplace. More so than ever, our everyday life is shaped by devices whose functions are driven by semiconductor technology. Devices for communication, transport, healthcare, work, education, as well as for doing the daily chores in our homes are all driven by semiconductor technology.
Evolution of Semiconductor Development
Since its inception in the 1950s up until mid 1990s-decade, semiconductor technology was custom developed for each application mostly by the device manufacturer for that application. In fact, computer makers, car makers, aircraft makers, consumer device, medical equipment manufacturers had their own custom semiconductor design and fabrication facilities. However, starting with the late 1990s up until recently, due to the high development and manufacturing costs associated with advanced semiconductor design and manufacturing, most device manufacturers adopted off-the-shelf semiconductor products with standardized specifications sold by semiconductor product companies competing based on the manufacturing cost and innovative design of these standard products. Pooling the volume from multiple customers for the same product, these semiconductor companies were able to justify the high cost of design and manufacturing over the larger volume, thereby providing access to advanced semiconductor technology to device manufacturers for almost two decades.
The Shift Back to Custom Semiconductor Technology
However, over the last decade, due to the increased amount of software used in everyday applications, device manufacturers were able to optimize software performance by developing their own custom semiconductor hardware, especially as demonstrated by Apple for their iPhone product. This custom hardware-software co-optimization has given tremendous competitive advantage for those device manufacturers, thereby fueling the trend for once again developing custom semiconductor technology to maximize software performance through a vertically integrated approach of all software and hardware being developed under one roof. Further, because of the supply chain constraints companies faced during COVID years, companies with critical dependency on a complex and expensive semiconductor technology have once again started exploring developing their own customized semiconductor technology to have more control over their supply chain costs and reliability.
The Value of Custom Semiconductor Investment
Many device manufacturers would like to explore the value of investing in custom semiconductor technology as an enabler to retain the differentiation of their secret sauce which is implemented in the custom designed semiconductor hardware. The differentiation could be driven by the function or form factor, or cost of achieving the functionality or all of these. Achieving each of these value drivers requires a careful analysis of the available design choices, including the functional blocks available as off-the-shelf intellectual property or needing grounds-up design, the device level verification and implementation methodology, the package design and fabrication technology choices available either locally or internationally to meet the design specification. The complexity of developing semiconductor technology stemming from the integration of disparate functional blocks at a minute level which can be reliability manufactured, presents a constant challenge right from the stage of conceptualizing a design all the way till having a functional integrated circuit manufactured in high volume meeting all requirements specifications, a process that can take several years.
The Need for Expert Guidance in Semiconductor Development
Hence there is need for practitioners, which includes product managers who specify the functions required from an integrated circuit, as well as the engineers responsible for development of the semiconductor technology, to appropriately assess the key technology and business choices available to minimize errors in specifications and development, thereby getting an adequate return on investment from developing the semiconductor technology.
Insight Tech’s Role in Semiconductor Solutions
Insight Tech is geared to help sort through these technology and business considerations for efficient development and use of semiconductor technology, combining both the hardware and software aspects, to deliver a fully integrated system. Insight Tech’s mission is to provide capabilities that are best of breed in either the development or use of semiconductors, covering both the hardware and software aspects of semiconductor technology. We provide practitioners in our customer organizations in the high-tech industry, who are looking to leverage semiconductor technology, insights to successfully navigate the technology and business challenges in development or use of semiconductors.
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