A long-time evangelist of 3D integration technologies, Herb Reiter puts more than 20 years of experiences in technical and business roles at semiconductor and EDA companies to work, providing a holistic perspective and insight on how to bring 3D integration to the masses.
Nuclear is Out. How Do We Solve the High Tech Sustainability Problem?
The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of activity in high tech sustainability. We’ve moved from using nuclear power for data centers to only some nuclear power for data centers. A change of administration where support for renewables and sustainability will not be as strong as under the previous...
The Funds Keep on Rolling for CHIPS for America R&D
The CHIPS Act continues to issue grants to help advance the United States position in semiconductor and advanced technology. Two CHIPS for America R&D facilities were announced in late October and early November. First announced was an $825 million dollar grant to Albany Nanotech in upstate New York to develop...
My How the Pendulum Swings
Why the AI Energy Crisis is Driving Us back to Coal and Nuclear Energy When I was an undergrad in Eastern Washington, my Physics professor and Geology professor, both had strong links to energy companies. With a strong coal industry in the region and the Hanford Nuclear facilities within field-trip...
TSMC OIP 2024: Strong Partnerships Drive 3D Packaging
I have spent a considerable amount of time covering the technology associated with the front-, and back end of-the-line. So for me, it is remarkable to see the growth in advanced packaging and how the interest in packaging technology seems to be overshadowing the FEOL transition to gate all around...
What is Causing the Semiconductor Workforce Paradox?
One of the challenges for the semiconductor industry over a significant time period has been finding workers who have the right skill set for design, process development, and working in the fab. According to McKinsey, there will be a shortage of between 59,000 and 146,000 workers by 2029. Deloitte predicts...
Now There Are Four
(2nm semiconductor manufacturing foundries) UMC started the semiconductor manufacturing foundry business in 1980, followed a few years later by TSMC. You could say the rest is history. TSMC has come to dominate the foundry industry for wafer processing and advanced packaging. TSMC has a 62% market share in the second...
SEMI’s Sustainability Startup Summit Round Three
If you watched the Summer Olympics in Paris, one of the challenges the Athletes faced was the temperature. With a few days above 90°F, precautions were taken for the fans and the athletes to avoid overheating. Paris was not the exception as temperature records seem to be announced nearly daily...
SEMI Market Symposium: A Trillion Dollars is Still in Sight
Semicon West in July coincides with many analysts’ mid-year forecasts. The SEMI Market Symposium has long been a show staple, kicking off the week and sometimes setting the temperature for the show, and the industry for the remainder of the year. This year, analysts maintain that we are still on...
Sustainability and Semiconductors at SEMICON WEST 2024
SEMI has increasingly focused on sustainability and semiconductors in the past three years, growing from a few keynote talks at SEMICON West 2021 to three full days packed with sustainability topics at SEMICON West 2024. You could have nicknamed this show SEMI Sustainability West. The semiconductor manufacturing industry is at...
AI and VLSI
What do oxide transistors, ferroelectrics, 2-dimensional channel layers, CFETS, Advanced packaging, AI, and tradewinds have in common? They were all topics at the IEEE VLSI Conference in June. The VLSI conference is held every June alternating between Hawaii, and Kyoto. In 2024 there were three and a half days of...
