Day Two of SEMICON West opened with a press conference detailing the future of the semiconductor industry. It is projected that there will be three consecutive years of growth in worldwide semiconductor equipment sales, according to the mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Forecast. SEMI has forecast that the total semiconductor equipment market will grow 7 percent in 2015 (reaching $40.2 billion) and expand another 4 percent in 2016 to reach $41.8 billion. After growing 18 percent in 2014, the equipment market is expected to continue to expand for the next two years. 
 

CONFERENCE AGENDA ANNOUNCED:

The highly-anticipated educational tracks for the 2015 R&D 100 Awards & Technology Conference feature 28 sessions, plus keynote speakers Dean Kamen and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. Learn more.
 

A keynote panel about the challenges of getting to sub-14nm followed the press conference. Technical challenges are not necessarily as large a concern as keeping prices under control. A panelist pointed out that it is imperative to concentrate on system yield percentage. The ability to reduce power down to a tiny space is a concern as well.

Another keynote address focused on the Internet of Things and changes to Moore’s Law. See related story: IBM: Future Computer Chips Will Be Smaller, Cheaper

Other panels offered discussions on productivity as well as packaging, and scaling transistors down to 14nm and maybe even down to 5nm.