Vijay Ullal

In the fiercely competitive semiconductor industry, companies are in a constant battle to retain top talent because in the heart of every good engineer is a passionate problem solver, looking for their next challenge. For them, innovation is the currency of success. Yet companies like Qualcomm, Intel, and Broadcom attract tens of thousands every year by dangling lucrative compensation packages to lure them from competitors. Startup leaders don’t have those resources, so they have to work harder to attract the best talent and then fight like hell to retain them. But some of the most successful startup leaders I know take a different approach. Rather than viewing attraction and retention as a fight, they leverage the inherent qualities of their companies as their advantage. They use their nimbleness, bias toward innovation, and their collaborative cultures like superpowers to attract the right people and those usually end up being the reasons why people stay. Take Richard Fung, CEO of The Six Semiconductor, for example. I had a conversation with Richard and asked him to share his approach to motivating his team. His response was like a mini-masterclass on the topic of talent attraction and retention. Richard emphasized that a culture that encourages engineers to dive deep into the intricacies of their craft, understand the systems they’re building, and connect with the end customer is a successful culture. Richard has been using this approach and it's been paying dividends for The Six Semiconductor so in his honor, here are his six key concepts for creating this type of organization: 1. Foster a Learning Culture: Support ongoing learning and skill development beyond employees' core responsibilities. 2. Prioritize Customer Focus: Embed a customer-centric mindset, and encourage employees to enhance user experiences through their work. 3. Champion Problem-Solving: Empower employees to creatively solve challenges with a focus on customer needs. 4. Promote System-Level Understanding: Encourage employees to grasp the bigger picture of the company's offerings and their role within it. 5. Break Down Silos: Promote collaboration to ensure a comprehensive understanding of projects across teams. 6. Offer Meaningful Challenges: Provide intellectually stimulating projects that make a tangible impact on the company's success. What Richard highlighted is that success goes much deeper than getting great people to join. It's about unleashing the full potential of every individual on your team to drive innovation and help shape the company, and ensuring your team heads in the right direction together. I’m thrilled I got to learn Richard’s perspective and believe other leaders can benefit from hearing it, so I shared the video below. My "challenge question" to other startup leaders is this: what are you doing to foster this type of culture in your organization? Either share below or, feel free to DM me. #semiconductorindustry #startup #leadership

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Interesting takeover bid to take ASMPT private by KKR. There is a lot of movement and potential consolidation in the advance packaging space, that’s growing fast, driven by AI applications. In particular hybrid bonding is of interest due to its use in 3D packaging and upcoming implementation for high bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks that are integrated with logic chips for AI processing. ASMPT has a strong packaging experience and a hybrid bonder with pretreatment modules from EVG on the market. An interesting twist is ASM International’s 25% stake in ASMPT, which has been an activist shareholder target in the past. Activists suggested in the past that there were no synergies between the companies and the stake should be divested for shareholders’ benefit. However, things change and I would argue that there are very strong synergies with ASMI’s deposition technology as ALD and new materials are introduced for advance packaging. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. #ALD, #ASMPT, #ASMI

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Contract Price Increases Offset Seasonal Slump, Boosting #DRAM Q1 Revenue by 5.1%, Says TrendForce Corporation TrendForce reveals that the #DRAM industry experienced a 5.1% revenue increase in 1Q24 compared to the previous quarter. This growth—reaching US$18.35 billion—was driven by rising contract prices for mainstream products, with the price increase being more significant than in 4Q23. As a result, most companies in the industry continued to see revenue growth. The top three suppliers experienced a decline in shipments in the first quarter, demonstrating the industry’s off-season effect. Additionally, downstream companies had higher inventory levels, which led to a significant reduction in #procurement volume. As for ASP, the top three suppliers continued to benefit from contract price increases seen in 4Q23. With inventory levels still healthy, there was a strong intention to raise prices. #Mobile DRAM saw the highest price increase out of all applications thanks to strong sales of Chinese #smartphones. On the other hand, the price increase for consumer DRAM was the lowest among all applications, as manufacturers still need to clear their inventories. Thanks again to TrendForce Corporation for the full article with more background and insights via the link below 💡🙏👇 https://lnkd.in/eXyJeY8D #semiconductorindustry #semiconductors #semiconductor #technology #tech #informationtechnology #memory #smartphones #pc #notebook #server #mobile #artificialintelligence #ai #aiot #chip #chips #geopolitics MEMPHIS Electronic Intelligent Memory Neumonda Samsung Electronics Micron Technology SK hynix Nanya Technology Winbond

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I have finally delved into this year's "100 Silicon Startups Worth Watching in 2024," recently published by EE Times | Electronic Engineering Times. One insight from Peter Clarke in his preface is the interesting shift in the geographical distribution of these top 100 companies. While there's a slight decline in California and North American representation (is it real?), the most striking changes are the sharp decrease in Chinese companies and the meaningful rise in European entries. Peter attributes the Chinese decline to trade tensions: "#China continues to have high levels of startup activity, but its reduced presence on the Silicon 100 reflects the trade tensions between the U.S. and China. That friction has intensified in recent years and has hit a number of Chinese startups that may have had international aspirations but have been denied access to leading-edge silicon out of foundry TSMC." #Europe, on the other hand, has seen an increase from 23 to 29 startups, with the U.K. leading the charge: "The U.K. has 12 startups on the current list, up from nine startups in version 23. The U.K., with longstanding entrepreneurial bases in Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, and Edinburgh, has enjoyed strong representation for many years." In my view, this growth is a testament to #Europe's robust academic system, coupled with government support, investments, and incubators like Silicon Catalyst.UK. Israel continues to excel: "Israel has always punched way above its weight by population and continues to do so," with its representation growing slightly from 7 to 8 this year, including NeuReality*, POLYN Technology, NeoLogic*, Speedata.io, Pliops, Chain Reaction Ltd.*, Hailo, .Quantum Machines . (*=new additions to the 2024 list). This list provides a good overview of this dynamic and evolving industry, blending both emerging and more established technologies. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the future of #semiconductor #innovation. For the full list: https://lnkd.in/dgfrNUWX

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Jim Keller, former Intel, AMD, and Tesla engineer, aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI with Tenstorrent's energy-efficient chip design. Tenstorrent's upcoming second-generation AI chip promises superior energy and cost efficiency, presenting a viable alternative to Nvidia's offerings. The innovative design of Tenstorrent's chip features independent decision-making cores, potentially reshaping AI chip technology across diverse applications. #AI #Nvidia #semiconductor #semiconductors #chip #technology #innovation #research #computing Tenstorrent NVIDIA https://lnkd.in/g6a3vAu4

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Last week’s DAC showcased exciting announcements from startups that are revolutionizing semiconductor design however these rising stars overshadowed a major update from an industry stalwart - Alphawave Semi - whose news is poised to accelerate the proliferation of chiplets and give rise to a “chiplet marketplace”. Alphawave Semi announced a breakthrough with the tapeout of the industry's first off-the-shelf, multi-protocol I/O connectivity chiplet. This technology can seamlessly integrate into larger SoCs or multi-chip modules, giving designers increased flexibility and more connectivity options for different applications. Reflecting on the Chiplet Summit this past spring, I remember listening to Tony Chan Carusone, Alphawave’s CTO, as he passionately described the significance of chiplets and how Alphawave will foster a more open and democratic design ecosystem. Now, just one quarter later, his team has launched a technology that brings this vision much closer to becoming a reality. Adding to their momentum, Alphawave also announced an expanded partnership with Samsung Foundry to advance the industry's progression toward cutting-edge semiconductor nodes, crucial for the evolution of advanced compute. Samsung’s roadmap in sub-4nm technologies includes FinFET and Gate-All-Around, which are designed to maximize performance in the post-Moore era. Initially targeted for data centers and HPC, these innovations may trickle down to low-cost, AI-enabled edge devices, putting the transformative power of AI into the hands of billions of people worldwide. This news follows Alphawave’s early June announcement of their new partnership with Arm, aimed at unlocking the potential of processors. Alphawave will give Arm access to their robust portfolio of connectivity solutions and silicon IP, which Arm will integrate into their proven portfolio of compute cores. At a time when AI technology is accelerating at breakneck speed, many companies are searching for ways to boost compute performance and address the challenge of moving data between compute and memory more efficiently. While multiple startups offer unique solutions, many customers want battle-tested technology to avoid the risk of investing in solutions that may become obsolete by the time they reach tapeout. Alphawave has developed vital solutions and in doing so, has increased design flexibility, built bridges to new process technologies, and shortened the path to market. “Connectors” are often the catalysts of innovation and Alphwave’s is a testament to that word. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from Alphawave and strongly believe they stand at the forefront of an emerging chiplet marketplace. More broadly, I believe their technology serves to democratize design technology and will give emerging companies more options to bring their brilliant ideas to life. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

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Just as we feared, our January 3 percent growth assumption for Q1-2024 has proved optimistic. The first quarter crashed, wiping US$13 billion off the quarter, which, in turn, has reduced our full year forecast by US$50 billion. Low unit sales, driven by ‘take of pay’ long-term price agreements (LTAs) from the Covid-boom era, are exacerbating industry attempts to rein back excess inventory. Just like the emperor’s new clothes, the supposed 2024 Super-Cycle has evaporated in a puff of smoke. It always was a delusion, Q1 removed all doubt. Visit our website for your copy of the May Industry Update Forecast Webinar side deck and video, see the highlights here: https://lnkd.in/evNyJxNH

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We’re one day into DAC, and there have already been announcements that will shape the future of semiconductor design. One startup that I've followed closely for two years shared groundbreaking news that promises to revolutionize chip development and democratize accessibility to chiplets. Baya Systems emerged from stealth mode last week, and CEO and co-founder Sailesh Kumar has done a remarkable job of staying under the radar since founding the company, choosing the perfect moment to unveil updates. Baya revealed not only WHAT they’re working on but also HOW they plan to tackle some of the most pressing challenges faced by SoC architects and designers, and it’s inspiring. The complexity of system design, high costs, and long time-to-market for advanced SoCs often means that a chip can be nearly obsolete by the time it reaches customers. The rapid pace of innovation, especially in AI chips, creates an unforgiving environment where promising startups might only have one shot at success. Baya’s solutions, WeaverPro and WeaveIP, aim to accelerate the design and performance of complex single-die and multi-die SoCs and chiplets. By leveraging a software-centric architecture, Baya simplifies development and accelerates data movement between chiplets and dies. This approach reduces the overall costs associated with advanced AI and CPU acceleration and speeds up time-to-market. WeaverPro and WeaveIP have already received the best kind of acclaim, customer adoption, and Baya announced this week that chiplet technology advocate Tenstorrent will license their WeaveIP fabric to scale their AI and RISC-V chiplet solutions. Chip design icon Jim Keller, who sits on Baya’s Advisory Board, praised the company, saying: “Baya makes great, comprehensive fabric tools that start with top-level architecture and allow us to plan at a detailed level… this, coupled with their visualization tools, enables designers to build next-generation chips, chiplets, and IP.” Adding to their momentum, Baya announced a partnership with Blue Cheetah Analog Design, Inc. yesterday at DAC and introduced a combined chiplet-optimized Network on Chip and PHY interconnect IP solution that simplifies the design and architecture of chiplet-based systems. Sailesh said, “In partnership, we provide system architects with a state-of-the-art platform and powerful tools to create the most innovative and cost-effective chiplet-based products.”   I've mentioned before that enabling development is key to unlocking the door to innovation. For founders without deep pockets or connections to investors, gaining access to better tools and proven intellectual property allows them to move faster and at a lower cost, ultimately helping to bring new designs to life. I’m impressed that Baya, a small yet mighty startup, has created this accessibility and fostered partnerships to help proliferate it. My encouragement to the community - watch them closely. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

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Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC), headquartered in El Segundo, CA, specializes in gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power FETs and integrated circuits for power management applications, with recent validation of their GaN intellectual property rights by the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC upheld EPC's patents and found Innoscience Technology Co Ltd guilty of infringing EPC’s foundational patent, potentially leading to a ban on importing their products into the USA. This ruling is a significant validation of nearly two decades of EPC's hard work and research, reflecting the importance of their intellectual property portfolio. The ITC's final determination is expected on November 5. Innoscience EPC - Efficient Power Conversion #semiconductor #intellectualproperty #industry #lawsuit #technology #GaN https://lnkd.in/di792VMW

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What is a LED fab: Key Companies and Applications 🚀 LED fab is an abbreviation for Light-Emitting Diode fabrication facility. It's a specialized manufacturing plant where LED chips and devices are produced. These facilities involve complex processes, including wafer fabrication, chip processing, and packaging. 🚀 Key Companies in LED Fabrication The LED industry is highly competitive, with several major players dominating the market. Some of the key companies in LED fab include: 1) Nichia Corporation: A Japanese company renowned for its LED technology, particularly in the blue and white LED sectors. 2) Cree: An American company that has been a major player in the LED industry for many years. 3) Osram: A German lighting company that has a significant presence in the LED market. 4) Samsung Electronics: A South Korean conglomerate that has invested heavily in LED technology. 5) Lumileds: A Dutch company that is a leading manufacturer of LED lighting solutions.    🚀 Applications of LED Technology LEDs have become ubiquitous in various applications due to their energy efficiency, long lifespan, and versatility. Some of the most common applications include: 1) General lighting: LEDs are used in various lighting applications, such as residential, commercial, and industrial lighting. 2) Automotive lighting: LEDs are increasingly used in headlights, taillights, and interior lighting in vehicles. 3) Backlighting: LEDs are used to backlight displays in televisions, smartphones, and computer monitors. 4) Signage and displays: LEDs are used in various signage and display applications, such as billboards, digital signage, and LED screens. 5) Decorative lighting: LEDs are used in various decorative lighting applications, such as holiday lights and architectural lighting. 6) Medical applications: LEDs are used in various medical applications, such as surgical lighting and therapy devices.    -------- P.S: If you like writings like these, we have compiled 100s of such questions in our book- The semiconductor Saga- a book that teaches you everything about semiconductors in simple words. Link in comments.

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PCIe Gen6 + 5nm + MRVL SerDes = Lowest Power for AI!!

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yieldHUB has semiconductor customers from 13 countries. Customers have, on average, been with us for 5 years. 33% have been with us for at least 5 years and 20% have been with us for more than 10 years. With few exceptions, customers are well funded private companies or well known and publicly quoted companies. Some dropped off over the years, but we grow net customers every year, this year being the second fastest of net customer growth after 2021 (move to cloud tech for big data accelerated during and just after Covid). 50% of payments by all customers are either on time or ahead of time. The payment average is 4 days over payment terms this year so far, 3 days over being the median. But every one of them has paid what they are supposed to, and that's going back 19 years. Semiconductors is a very honourable industry and it's great to be part of it. #customersuccess #payments #customerretention #semiconductors

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Another great article by Timothy Morgan at #NextPlatform "Because of the memory-compute imbalance, customers are spending a fortune on a device that cannot come close to its peak performance because of bandwidth and capacity bottlenecks in the HBM memory. We either need HBM4E memory early, or as we wrote about back in March this year when covering the simultaneous bi-directional NuLink PHYs from #Eliyan, we need a way to hook a lot more HBM3E memory to the current devices."

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In this episode of the "Quick Chip Series" on the Semiconductor Leadership Podcast, we dive into the remarkable journey of Qualcomm, a powerhouse in the semiconductor industry. On Youtube: https://lnkd.in/de6CY2Jw On Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dppbZi5C Join us as we uncover surprising facts and lesser-known stories about the company's rise to prominence. Did you know Qualcomm's name was almost different? What unexpected innovation sparked its success? How did a single invention revolutionize mobile communication forever? Tune in to discover these intriguing details and more. Subscribe to our YouTube and Spotify channels now to stay updated with our latest episodes and never miss an insight into the semiconductor world!

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A very interesting blog by Giuseppe Piccolboni of Weebit Nano Ltd about the use of our #ReRAM for #neuromorphic applications

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Very nice interview by Salah Nasri with Ron Huemoeller, providing insight into his background, experiences, and influences, and how he's using those to guide and grow #sarasmicrodevices!

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A report in the #NYTimes today indicates stimulus from #CHIPS Act already appears to be taking effect.  Done right, we could see more than 30% of the most advanced logic devices manufactured domestically by 2032, up from basically zero today. The result is a change in the total percent of semiconductor devices changing from a downward trend towards less than 10% of global #semiconductormanufacturing to more than 14%. While this may not seem like a major change, consider that all global regions are simultaneously investing heavily in production and we begin to understand how significant this reversal actually is. The National Semiconductor Economic Roadmap (#NSER, https://lnkd.in/gtSGMNjt) modeled and predicted these trends almost 18 months ago (Exhibit 3, below) based upon US leadership in manufacturing capacity investments, and how supply chain, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, and workforce development would be the cornerstones of this resurrection. We’ve seen multiple incentives planned, the directives made for a National Semiconductor Technology Center (#NSTC, #NATCAST) and National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (#NAPMP), supplier funding incentives being communicated, and most recently the announcement by #NIST of the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute (https://lnkd.in/g_wb5dXG) dedicated to advancing innovation and productivity through digital twinning across the ecosystem to create a global digital twin for manufacturing, arguably this industry’s moonshot! Let’s align around the spirit of this stimulus and regain our leadership position in semiconductor manufacturing. https://lnkd.in/gwCzSJM5

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Intel Corporation will now be spinning off it's Intel Foundry division into a wholly owned subsidiary and also consolidating all it's design operations into CCG (client computing group, or lpatop/PC division) and DCAI (datacenters and AI, the server group). Networking group NEX will remain for now, but it is too small now and I'm guessing it will be sold off. Qualcomm is already looking to acquire some of Intel's operations as per The Wall Street Journal; Qualcomm is most likely interested in the CCG piece. (https://lnkd.in/gYkgwxGq) Intel will likely break itself into three major pieces - Manufacturing/Foundry, CCG and DCAI will become separate companies. But let's talk about Intel Foundry : Intel consolidated all it's manufacturing and research into Intel Foundry which started reporting it's own P&L from Q1 of this year. But it wasn't a different legal entity which now Pat Gelsinger has announced will happen. But even then, without a much more massive US govt assistance, Intel can't pay to become competitive again. US govt is the only entity that can pay for, the R&D needed to catch to TSMC and match Samsung Semiconductor, pay for new fabs etc. However Intel's failure to get a customer (Broadcom most recently, and Qualcomm and NVIDIA long ago, dropped the 18A offering) created multiple problems - the US Commerce Department's conditons for funding were not being met. And since AMD never showed any interest, - any help to Intel Foundry, which has been a part of Intel (unlike help to TSMC and even Samsung Semiconductors - both of which have well established fab business and serve multiple customers), would be construe a help to wider Intel business which then competes with AMD, Qualcomm, Nvidia. The latest move to separate out the Foundry as a legal entity opens to path to solve multiple problems at month. In my speculation the following will happen before Q3'2025: (1) Intel Foundry will not only become a separate company (legal entity) as Pat Gelsinger has already announced, it will in fact drop the name "Intel" altogether and be names something like "American National Fab corporation" - National Semiconductor would have been a good name but it is already taken. (2) Intel (or whatever survives without Foundry) will have less than majority stake in the new entity. A consortium made of AMD, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices ... all the marquee names of US Semiconductor industry will also be "encouraged" by US Commerce department to aquire, between themselves, a majority stake. Even the likes of TSMC may be persuaded. (3) US Govt will subsequently open the floodgates of money to the foundry to make it a success. (4) The new owners will bring about management and technical ladder changes acutely needed. I hope this happens for the sake of the talented employees, the US and the world public.

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Tech Thought #3 Spintronics AI Semiconductors "The deep dive into HBM3 manufacturing: The evolution of memory technology" HBM3 (High Bandwidth Memory 3) is a high-performance type of DRAM used in advanced computing applications like AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and graphics processing. The architecture of HBM3 involves multiple DRAM dies stacked vertically, connected through-silicon vias (TSVs) for high data transfer rates. These memory stacks are mounted on a silicon interposer, which serves as a bridge between the HBM3 memory and the processor, such as a GPU, CPU, or FPGA. The manufacturing process of HBM3 is highly complex, involving the fabrication of DRAM dies using advanced semiconductor processes, often at 7nm or smaller nodes. These dies are then stacked vertically and connected using TSVs, allowing for a smaller footprint and reduced latency. In HBM3 manufacturing, wafer-level packaging plays a crucial role, where the DRAM stacks are assembled and tested at the wafer level before being diced into individual units. The integration of multiple DRAM dies in a 3D stack requires advanced bonding techniques, like hybrid bonding or microbump technology, to ensure high electrical and thermal performance. Thermal management is another critical aspect, as the high power density of HBM3 necessitates effective cooling methods, such as micro-cooling and the use of thermal interface materials (TIMs). Testing and validation are rigorous in HBM3 manufacturing, with extensive testing at various stages to ensure reliability, performance, and yield. This includes electrical and thermal testing, as well as performance validation. (I will continue to explore this topic in greater detail in future posts) #HBM3 #MemoryTechnology #HighBandwidthMemory #AdvancedManufacturing #Semiconductor #3DStacking #HighPerformanceComputing #AI #GPUs #MemoryInnovation #TechManufacturing #NextGenMemory #TSV #Microelectronics #ChipPackaging #ComputingPower #SiliconInterposer #MemoryEngineering #HPC #AIAccelerators

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