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TAP TIMES January 2022

Volume 13, Number 1
Test, Assembly & Packaging TIMES

The BIG Boom! Is a new fab coming to your city?
H istorically 2021 industry, which it certainly has. In part,

may become
the result has been greater demand for
chips, particularly for DRAM and NAND
known for two
memory, as workplaces went remote.
things in the
semiconductor
Supply chain demands
world: A severe
shortage of chip
The virus placed unexpected demands on
capacity and the
announcement
automobiles to cameras.
that several of
Last November, Sony Corp. placed a mora-
the largest chip the supply chain for many products, from
producers, including Intel, Samsung, torium on orders for several of its most
Texas Instruments and TSMC will each popular (and expensive) digital camera
spend hundreds of billions of dollars systems and halted production on those
on new fabs — mostly in the U.S. items due to a semiconductor shortage.

Revenue record
Last year likely set a revenue record for
the chip makers, at least most of them. In
a few years, current total annual revenue
may look like chump change.

Ron Iscoff , Editor
roniscoff @gmail.com

For example, according to a forecast by
International Data Corp., when the books
are closed on 2021, it will show that the
semiconductor market value was worth
$522 billion. CEO Pat Gelsinger shows Intel’s petafl op supercomputer (Intel)
An “especially important year”
Another record In mid-2021, IDC called 2021 an “espe-
Compare that to 2020, when sales chalked cially important year” for semiconductor
-up some $464 billion, again a record and vendors as 5G phones were likely to cap-
an increase of some 10.8 percent com- ture 34% of all mobile phone shipments.
pared to 2019.
The chips for these phones, IDC added
When the COVID-19 virus struck in May “will capture nearly nearly two-thirds of
2020, prognasticators felt this would have the revenue in the segment.”
a dramatic eff ect on the semiconductor to page 6