ELECTRONICS NEWS HIGHLIGHT W31.2024

1. US announces $1.6 billion in funding for advanced packaging

The U.S. government announced on July 9.2024 that it will allocate up to $1.6 billion for research and development in five areas of advanced packaging, an important step in the United States’ efforts to maintain its leading position in the manufacturing of components needed for applications such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Laurie Locascio, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said the proposed funding is part of the $52 billion authorized in the CHIPS Act of 2022 and will help companies The company innovates in areas such as creating faster ways to transfer data between chips and managing the heat generated by chips. The total amount of funding for each company is expected to be up to $150 million. Our research and development efforts in advanced packaging will focus on high-demand applications such as high-performance computing (HPC) and low-power electronics, both of which are essential to achieve leadership in AI.

So far, the United States accounts for only 3% of global chip packaging capacity, with most packaging work done in Asia. However, companies such as Intel, SK Hynix, Amkor and Samsung Electronics are building packaging plants in the United States.

Learn more: US announces $1.6 billion in funding for advanced packaging

2. Global semiconductor equipment sales are expected to hit a new record in 2024

According to the latest report released by SEMI, the global total sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment are expected to reach a record high of US$109 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%. In addition, driven by the front-end and back-end market segments, the sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 2025 are expected to achieve a strong growth of about 17%, setting a new high of US$128 billion.

After generating $96 billion in sales in 2023, sales in the fab equipment segment. Continued strong equipment spending in mainland China, driven by AI computing, and large investments in DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) have driven the upward forecast.

Looking ahead to 2025, sales in the fab equipment segment are expected to grow 14.7% to $113 billion, driven by increased demand for advanced logic and memory applications.

The report said that after two years of contraction caused by macroeconomic conditions and weak semiconductor demand, the back-end equipment sector is expected to begin to recover in the second half of 2024. Specifically, sales of semiconductor test equipment are expected to grow 7.4% to $6.7 billion in 2024, while packaging equipment sales are forecast to grow 10.0% to $4.4 billion in the same year. In addition, growth in the back-end market segments is expected to accelerate in 2025, with test equipment sales surging 30.3% and packaging equipment sales surging 34.9%.

Learn more: Global semiconductor equipment sales are expected to hit a new record in 2024

3. ChipsNL calls for €900 million investment in semiconductor innovation in the Netherlands over the next six years

ChipsNL, the Dutch semiconductor trade consortium whose members include well-known semiconductor companies such as ASML, NXP, and Nexperia, recently stated that the Netherlands has an important geopolitical voice through the semiconductor industry. However, due to the lack of focus, public investment and joint strategy, the Dutch chip industry is increasingly likely to fall behind its competitors.

ChipNL calls for public financing of €100-150 million per year for semiconductor innovation initiatives over the next six years (€600-900 million in total). In addition to co-financing, R&D subsidies must be made more accessible to scale up projects, production must be stimulated through joint strategies, and Dutch capital markets must be improved.

ChipNL said the semiconductor industry could achieve annual growth of 9.8 billion euros in 2030, a figure that could increase to 16.7 billion euros per year if growth trends continue. Additionally, this will help improve the profitability of the entire value chain, which mainly includes SMEs across the Netherlands, increase the number of customers and prevent the loss of technology and jobs in these businesses. small and medium enterprises.