Semiconductors, Data Centers & AI

With the high inflation, increasing labor costs, labor shortage, energy crisis, and hybrid working, the manufacturing industry experienced significant turmoil in 2022. Although some of these have started to get eased, 2023 is still expected to be a challenging year for the manufacturing industry.

Advanced semiconductor packaging technologies are crucial due to the slowing of Moore's law and rising costs of monolithic Si IC development and manufacturing. Initially, components were individually packaged and integrated at the PCB board level, but as devices become smaller and require higher processing capabilities, component integration needs to be pushed beyond board level.

Microcontrollers (also known as controllers, MCUs and other name variations) are the backbone on which modern vehicles are built. Regardless of whether a car is powered by petrol, diesel, electric, hydrogen, PDG, or anything else, its functionalities will be heavily dependent on controllers.

Artificial Intelligence has come a long way since the success of DeepMind over Go world champion Lee Sedol in 2016; the world is beginning to change according to the new possibilities afforded by AI. From the robust predictive abilities of OpenAI's ChatGPT - where the AI chatbot can be used for all sorts of purposes, from creating scripts (including malware) to writing academic essays - to AI image generators that are so good that they can win Sony world photography awards, the complexity and capabilities of AI algorithms are growing at a startlingly fast pace.

Materials informatics is the application of data-driven methods, including machine learning techniques, to the field of materials science. This important part of the digital transformation toolbox for the materials industry has wide-ranging benefits, but the ability to enhance the sustainability of materials and their manufacturing processes could be the most impactful of these.

6G is the next generation of wireless technology that promises to go beyond mobile communication and revolutionize how people interact with the world around them. According to IDTechEx's latest 6G research, 6G could be with us in 2028 at the earliest.

IDTechEx's new report "Semiconductors for Autonomous and Electric Vehicles 2023-2033" finds that the coming mass adoption of electric vehicles will drive a 10-year CAGR of 20.9% in semiconductors used for electric powertrains. Along with the rise of more autonomous vehicles, this will drive the overall automotive semiconductor market to a CAGR of 9.4% over the next decade.

Modern technology is largely built upon the back of tiny electrical circuits connected together to form chips. These come in a variety of configurations, and can be found in all kinds of household appliances (from rice cookers to air conditioners), consumer electronics (laptops, smartphones, TVs), and products and services necessary to everyday life in an interconnected world (such as airplanes, trains, and cars).

Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) come in different forms and thermal conductivities. Typical TIM forms include gap pads, thermal greases, thermally conductive adhesives (TCA), and phase change materials.

As electric vehicle (EV) power electronics undergoes a paradigm shift towards wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, it is clear that silicon carbide (SiC) is becoming the material of choice, while gallium nitride (GaN) is often shoe-boxed into telecommunications or optoelectronics applications.