Semiconductors have played a critical role in America’s economy, job creation, technology leadership and national security over the past six decades. They are the foundation upon which the operation of almost everything electronic is based, from the most complex space instruments, weaponry or information processing circuitry, to simple everyday tools and gadgets.
Semiconductors underpin the “must-win” technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced wireless networks. They enable advances in communications, computing, health care, transportation and countless other applications.
Without semiconductors, there would be no smartphones, TVs, computers, video games or advanced medical diagnostic equipment.
Semiconductors will be as important to the 21st century and the transition to an information society as steel was to the 20th century and the industrial revolution.
What are semiconductors?
Semiconductors are microchips made from pure elements. In a process called doping, small amounts are added to pure elements such as silicon, causing large changes in the conductivity of the material. Semiconductors are essential components of most electronic circuits. Silicon is by far the most important and most widely used semiconductor material.
What are some of the reasons for the increase in demand for chips that has caused such severe shortages that factories have closed?
- Demand for laptops has skyrocketed.
- Remote work has increased the need for cloud-computing services.
- A surge in demand for the new 5G phones.
Unfortunately, the shortage of semiconductors cannot be rectified quickly. Adding new chip-making equipment can be expensive and slow.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract ship maker, said last Thursday it was working with the car industry to address critical shortages. Ford Motor announced recently that because of a shortage of chips it was going to idle a factory in Kentucky. General Motors last month asked suppliers to stockpile a year’s worth of chips.
The significance of semiconductors is evident in just how many there are in a single car. Conventional vehicles contain an average of $330 value of semiconductor content while hybrid electric vehicles can contain up to $1,000 and 3,500 semiconductors devices. The microprocessors and chips that power modern vehicles are now so prevalent that they play just as critical a role as steel and aluminum.
Broadly speaking, semiconductors fall into four main product categories:
- Memory: Memory chips serve as temporary storehouses of data and pass information to and from computer devices’ brains.
- Microprocessors: These are central processing units that contain the basic logic to perform tasks.
- Commodity Integrated Circuit: Sometimes called “standard chips,” are produced in huge batches for routine processing purposes.
- Complex SOC: “System on a Chip” is essentially all about the creation of an integrated circuit chip with an entire system’s capability on it.
Success in the semiconductor industry depends on creating smaller, faster and cheaper products. The benefit of being tiny is that more power can be placed on the same chip. The more transistors on a chip, the faster it can do its work. New technologies lower the cost of production per chip so that within a matter of months, the price of a new chip might fall 50%.
Moore’s Law refers to the observations in 1965 of Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel. Moore perceived that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, increasing the speed and capability of a computer. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it, too. That is, even with added gadgets and power, the price of new generations of computers has stabilized or declined.
Masayoshi Son, chief executive officer of Softbank, said, “Hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom, and data is the knowledge.”
Originally published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
