By Jean-Christophe Eloy, Yole Group (in collaboration with Poshun Chiu and Ezgi Dogmus, analysts at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group)
What’s at stake?
Thanks to automotive electrification, the silicon carbide semiconductor market is witnessing unprecedented growth, with industry players jostling for position. Big questions we ponder are who are best positioned to lead the SiC device market and who will eventually acquire whom.
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
A more balanced distribution of semiconductor fabs across the world does not signal the beginning of the end of globalization. True globalization entails not just production efficiency but also the creation of resilient and flexible supply chains. Achieving that goal requires distributed rather than concentrated production.
Morris Chang is no ordinary icon. In the semiconductor industry, Chang has few peers, dead or alive.
Chang has been right about so much – the fabless semiconductor manufacturing model is his most notable call – that contradicting him can be a daunting task. But contradict him we must on the topic of globalization, which he addressed recently in Arizona.
What’s at stake?
Automakers are in transition. As more sensing, computing and connectivity infiltrate ADAS vehicles, tier ones and carmakers must figure out where to process raw sensory data, and whether sensor fusion should be performed with raw or pre-processed data: The edge or the central compute? Ambarella and NXP have diverging approaches.
By Ron Wilson
What’s at stake
Our increasing expectations of smart, connected devices are placing a huge technical strain on system vendors and their chip suppliers, almost none of which are structured to exploit the situation. Change must come.
We want small things to be smart. From earbuds to UHD TVs, from kitchen appliances to forklifts, we expect our devices not just to work, but to understand their surroundings, make good decisions, and cooperate with our other devices.
Read More »Synaptics Plays ‘Go’ to Win IoT Market
By David Benjamin
“I think the primary gateway to the metaverse will be the smartphone…“
“The allure of the metaverse is that we will be able to transcend our physical world, ‘teleport’ to any place, real or imaginary, and have an enjoyable, educational, or practical experience there.”
—Jon Peddie, The Ojo-Yoshida Report
I grew up in a cloud of smoke, an experience pretty close to universal among so-called Baby Boomers. My parents and grandparents smoked, most of my aunts and uncles, nearly every adult, for that matter, in my hometown, smoked. Most of my school friends lit their first cigarette before high school. TV shows were interrupted incessantly by nicotine come-ons, for Kent, Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Camel, Kool, and “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.”
Read More »Smoke on the Brain
What’s at stake:
Silicon carbide remains a luxury technology: Nice to have but still pricey. New all-inclusive business models that allow chipmakers to produce SiC materials, devices and packages are seen as one way to scale the technology to reduce cost. Onsemi is among those with an early-mover advantage.
Early investors in the nascent market for silicon carbide (SiC) technology have a leg up on relative late-comers jumping on the power-electronics bandwagon being driven by electric vehicle and industrial applications. Among those advantages are the ability to address the emerging SiC market through a vertically integrated business model that enables across-the-board production of material substrates, or boules, wafers, devices and SiC packages.
Read More »Onsemi Triangulates Its Silicon Carbide Strategy
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
Silicon carbide device designers and wafer suppliers are shifting to a vertically integrated business model — and spending lavishly on capex — betting that demand will remain strong for power electronics in high-growth markets. If those sectors falter, SiC suppliers will be left holding billions of dollars in unused capacity and raw materials.
The silicon carbide supply chain is engaged in a delicate balancing act.
To continue satisfying demand — already strong and expected to skyrocket — SiC manufacturers are investing or promising to invest billions of dollars in new fabs and processes for a market still in its infancy. But it’s potentially problematic that the growth projections for SiC products are largely based on hope.
Read More »SiC Manufacturers Walk a Tightrope
By Junko Yoshida
What’s at stake?
Fueled by booming electric-vehicle demand and the long-term goal of semiconductor self-sufficiency, China is committed to developing power electronics based on silicon carbide (SiC). What is China’s plan for leapfrogging Western SiC suppliers?
Here are the questions: Who are China’s SiC players? How much money is China pouring into nascent technology and production facilities? Are Chinese vendors devising different business strategies to conquer the SiC market? Each of these riddles keep global power-electronics executives awake at night.
Read More »SiC in China: ‘Poster Child of the Decoupling Era’
By Peter Clarke
What’s at stake?
China has made numerous efforts to acquire European technology over the last decade or more. While wafer fabs, even mature ones, are a priority and have recently drawn regulatory attention, there are also many startups and fabless chip companies attracting investors and potential buyers, often without scrutiny. Individual deals may appear as the unfettered workings of the technology market, but the aggregate effect can produce a dependence that Europe is only just starting to consider.
Judging by two recent events, Europe is waking up to the risk of China buying up more of its technology – even when those capabilities are somewhat mature. Will regulators react more quickly to investments in technology startups?
Read More »European Chip Startups Top China’s Shopping List
What’s at stake?
The idea of “on-shoring” or “near-shoring” is gaining traction among supply-chain practitioners in the face of stringent government policies. Policy makers have become more inclined to define specific industries and technologies as nationally sensitive, imposing limits on cross-border goods and capital flows. At stake is how quickly a global company like Apple, author of an impeccable global supply chain, can change course.
