The shortage of semiconductors won’t be easy to solve, with some equipment lead times stretching out several years, said VLSI Research CEO Dan Hutcheson at a SEMI event. Indradeep Ghosh, senior director of market intelligence at Micron Technology, predicted that the synergies between AI and 5G wireless networks will create trillions of dollars in new demand, ranging from new business services, remote surgery and medicine, immersive sports viewing, new forms of streaming entertainment, ADAS-capable cars, and other applications.
In the March issue of Semiconductor Digest, contributing editor Dave Lammers wrote about the recent SEMI Outlook Forum, organized by the Silicon Valley and Northwest chapters of SEMI. Read the full story here.
As noted in the story, production levels are now above 2 million wafers per week (300mm equivalents), about 20 percent above 2020 levels, yet capacity remains very tight.